SPECIAL REPORT | Imagine stepping out of your house one morning and spotting a towering waste incinerator facility in your backyard. Most people would immediately reject the idea.

But here’s the hard truth: Malaysia is drowning in waste. Those plastic containers from your takeout? The mountain of delivery boxes from your online shopping? The old furniture abandoned on street corners? They all end up in the landfill.

The government’s solution is to build 18 waste-to-energy (WTE) power plants across Peninsular Malaysia.

The Housing and Local Government Ministry has billed it as safe, zero-waste, and toxic-free. But is that really the case...