Refuse
Avoid what is not needed in the first place.
The national picture
Malaysia is turning waste into wealth
Our work sits inside a national shift. This page summarises where Malaysia is heading on the circular economy, drawn from MIDA’s own account, so you can see how a building-level programme connects to the bigger policy picture.
Source. This page mirrors and summarises
“Turning Waste into Wealth: Malaysia’s Circular Economy in Action,”
published by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) on 2 October 2025. The
figures and policies below are MIDA’s; we have summarised them for context and linked
to the original. Read it in full on
mida.gov.my.
The starting point
The scale of the waste challenge
Malaysia’s waste sector is under real pressure, and the numbers make the case for a circular model on their own.
- 39,000
- Tonnes of solid waste generated daily
- 135
- Landfills nationwide, most near capacity
- 2nd
- Largest contributor to national GHG emissions is waste
- 37.9%
- National recycling rate in 2024, against a 40% target
The framework
Beyond the 3Rs, to nine strategies
The Circular Economy Blueprint for Solid Waste (2025-2035) widens the familiar reduce-reuse-recycle into nine strategies for keeping materials in use and out of landfill.
Rethink
Redesign how products and materials are used.
Reduce
Use less material and less energy per unit.
Reuse
Use again for the same purpose.
Repair
Keep working products in service longer.
Refurbish
Restore and update older assets.
Remanufacture
Rebuild to as-new condition from used parts.
Repurpose
Give materials a new and different use.
Recycle & Recover
Reclaim materials and energy from what is left.
This is the same logic our programme applies at building level: measure the stream first, then move it as far up the ladder as the evidence supports, with landfill as the last resort rather than the default. See how SCE applies it.
The policy stack
What government has put in place
The circular economy in Malaysia is not a slogan. It sits on a stack of published policies and roadmaps.
Circular Economy Blueprint for Solid Waste (2025-2035)
The ten-year framework defining the circular economy as reuse, recycling, upcycling and repurposing to cut environmental pollution, built on the nine strategies above.
National Solid Waste Management Policy
The overarching policy governing how solid waste is managed across the country.
Malaysia Plastics Sustainability Roadmap (2021-2030)
The national plan for reducing plastic pollution and building a circular plastics economy.
MITI’s Circular Economy Policy Framework
The trade and industry framework aligning manufacturing with circular principles.
12th Malaysia Plan initiatives
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), e-waste expansion and agricultural composting, with a 40% recycling rate target.
Investment momentum
RM22.7 billion attracted into integrated waste management and recycling as at June 2025, including RM3.2 billion across 17 approved integrated waste management projects.
The money behind it
Incentives for circular investment
MIDA highlights targeted tax incentives under the Green Investment Tax Allowance (Tier 2, Budget 2023) to pull private capital into the shift.
Integrated waste management
100% Investment Tax Allowance
For qualifying integrated waste management projects, an allowance of 100% for five years.
High-technology recycling
Pioneer Status or 60% ITA
For high-technology recycling, Pioneer Status with a 70% income tax exemption, or a 60% Investment Tax Allowance for five years.
These national incentives sit alongside the building-level reliefs we map in our own note. See green and ESG incentives by programme stage.
Where we fit
National ambition needs building-level evidence
MIDA, as the government’s principal investment promotion agency, works to draw high-value, technology-driven investment into this transition, and points to priorities such as stronger waste segregation, wider EPR schemes and advanced recycling.
Every one of those national targets is ultimately met building by building, tonne by tonne. A recycling rate is the sum of what individual sites actually divert. That is the layer Bravo SCE works in: we measure what a single building generates, move it up the nine-strategy ladder, and produce the evidence that a diversion claim is real.
When the national picture asks for segregation, measurement and recovery, that is precisely what Baseline First delivers on the ground.
From national to your building
Turn the policy into a number your building can report.
We measure your waste, energy and water, then move each stream up the ladder and prove the result. That is how a national ambition becomes a line in your ESG statement.