State Housing, Local Government and Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said the award was presented to him at an event held in Brunei two days ago.

Besides MBPP, Putrajaya Corporation and the Kota Kinabalu City Hall also received the same recognition.

MBPP had also won the Asean Region Clean City Award at the Asean Tourism Forum in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in January last year.

“The criteria taken into account are environmental management, cleanliness, waste management, environmental protection and cleanliness awareness, management of green spaces, health and urban safety, and security and tourism infrastructure and facilities.

“It is not easy. Under each of these headings, there are several sub-headings as well.

“So my hope is that MBPP can continue to maintain the high standards so that we can retain this award when it is presented next in 2022 in Cambodia,” he said after handing over the award to MBPP mayor Yew Tung Seang today.

Meanwhile, Jagdeep said a pilot project that began in June last year to transform food waste into energy had proven successful.

“A study was conducted using about 60-70kg of food waste to produce energy.

“We want to be the main players for using waste energy in Malaysia. I would like MBPP to take it to the next level,” he said.

The project aims to generate 2.7 megawatts (MW) of power from every 150 tonnes of food waste, not only from the island but Seberang Perai as well.

He added that total waste in Penang is about 1,250 tonnes per day, 700 tonnes of which come from the island and the rest from the mainland. Of these, 25% is food waste.

At the same time, he announced that Penang recorded a 44.04% recycling rate in 2019, way above the national target of 24%.