Poplasty ac: domestic waste as activated carbon for river water treatment

The increase of domestic waste each year is a great concern. Furthermore, most of the waste isnonbiodegradable which pollutes the ground and water. If decompose by burning, the air pollution occurred. Meanwhile, Malaysia is a nation rich with river but most of it were polluted. A few polluted rivers in the city were built shop, bridges and walkways decorated with the light by the government around it. Unfortunately, the dark colour of the river and its smell is still there. Thus, this project was conducted to turn the domestic waste that pollute the river water into activated carbon for river water treatment. There are three types of domestic waste used inthis research which is paper, plastic and Styrofoam. All the domestic waste was turn into activated carbon and through four test which are smell, turbidity, pH, iodine, and biological oxygen demand (BOD) test. The result shown activated carbon from paper, plastic and Styrofoam is suitable to use as water treatment. Using activated carbon to treat river water hopefully will reduce the amount and cost to dispose of domestic waste, cost the river water treatment and a good effort as starting point to treat the river in our country. Keywords: activated carbon, water treatment, plastic, paper, Styrofoam