The small and medium scale enterprises in Malaysia face a problem in disposing the industrial waste. According to publications from United Nations, most of the small and medium scale enterprises do not have any environmental management program. They lack expertise and facilities to recycle the effluent waste from the machining operations and moreover they are not in a good financial predicament to invest on such investments. This may result in not disposing the effluent waste in an appropriate manner, thus causing an environmental pollution to soil, water and air. This research aims to bring out the most preferred mode of effluent waste disposal among the small and medium scale enterprises in Malaysia and also intends to identify the reasons that contribute to the inappropriate disposal of the machining waste among them. A descriptive survey is conducted as the primary mode of data collection for this research. The target population for the survey comprises of the small and medium scale industries which are specialized in metal removal operations using the lathe, drilling, milling or grinding machines. The data collected from the SMEs are compiled and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The survey revealed that most of the SMEs in Malaysia do not have any Environmental management program and that they do not follow any proper method in disposing the effluent waste from their companies.

Keywords: Small and medium scale enterprises, Effluent waste, Descriptive survey, Environmental management program

.