Recycling starts with YOU!

I saw a TV programme last week where they were discussing about recycling and what can we do as normal folks. A few important things were suggested by this learned Dr who is holding a position in Penang government (so sorry I forgot his name).

The use of plastic bags, was high on the list to reduce. As we know Selangor and Penang have started the no plastic bag day on Saturdays. But some of the shopping places I see in Selangor are not really doing so. It's probably because of their customers complaints. Businesses cannot be blamed because naturally, making money is their priority. If their customer are not happy, they will not be making money. Therefore I think, recycling needs to start from oneself, from the mindset of the people. When there isn't a demand for plastic bags, they will die a natural death.

There was also a discussion about those so called biodegradable plastic bags. Apparently, bags that are said to be biodegradable in Malaysia are not certified to be really biodegradable. They are only disintegrating physically, meaning that they break into pieces with time or when exposed to the outside weather factors such as sun and rain. The problem is they do not break up chemically, so the bags have broken into smaller pieces of plastic but those pieces are still there to pollute the environment. This is something I didn't realize. So biodegradable plastic bag are no go too.So people, bring your own bags when you go shopping, not just on Saturdays but everyday. If you do take home plastic bags, make sure you use them repeatedly until they are unusable.

Most people are aware that paper should be recycled. So we often see the old newspaper collectors coming to do their round in our neighbourhoods. Apart from that almost all type of waste materials can be recycled. Plastic water bottles, aluminum and tin cans, beverages  packs, packing materials etc.. For more facts about recycling, this is a good site to visit. Even styrofoam packing materials can be recycled. But from my knowledge, the recycling centres in Malaysia usually do not accept them for recycling as the effort and maybe cost to do so are too high. So if you can, one of the first thing you can start immediately is to minimise or stop completely the use of styrofoam packings. Bring your own reusable containers when you go pack food outside.

I am sure most people have heard "reduce, reuse and recycle". Very importantly to note, is that the sequence of activities should be as stated. Firstly, you need to reduce your waste. Use less and therefore waste less. When you do have waste, reuse them. Like using paper on the other side, or reusing plastic and glass container, etc. Then, finally when you really need to throw them away, you recycle them. The last one is done by separating your waste right at the point when you discard them, usually this means at home. I have started to have a recycling corner at home for more than 6 months now. We have 3 big bins, for paper, glass and tins/plastics. Then, we also have our regular bins for things we cannot recycle. By separating your wastes, you reduce the amount of rubbish that will end up in a landfill somewhere. This is very very important, do not expect some other human to go through your thrash for you to try and salvage recyclable materials. Either you do it or they will end up polluting the environment in some landfill.

Our recycling corner at home.

For the materials that you have separated, you have a few options to get rid of them. You can sell them at many recycling centres that I can see everywhere, you can also give them to the rubbish collectors who will then sell them and get a little pocket money or you can do like we do, we give to a charity organisation that give a strong emphasis on environment protection work. Every few weeks, we will send our items to their centre.

I have heard people complained, why do we only do this and not that? Why do we stop people from using plastic bags when there are more horrible pollutants in other wastes. My answer is very simple, start small, every bit counts. Cultivate the habit and start learning more about the different types of wastes and how to recycle them. If everyone can just take responsibility of his/her own trash and do the 3 Rs, we can reduce a substantial amount of the 19,000 tons of rubbish Malaysians produce daily.