Attention Malaysian!

While waiting for the train to reach my destination last morning, i read the Sun news paper. My eyes caught at page 4 of the news paper, which the news title is “ Sort your household waste, or else...” Being the ‘environmentalist wannabe’ (hahaha) i read the whole article, to know what the matter is all about.

Based on the latest news, to achieve the federal’s government’s target to increase recycles waste nationwide from about 5% currently, to 22% by the year 2020, there is some effort from the federal government. There are new regulations related to recycleable waste to be enforced by the federal government in 2012. Those who do not seperate their recyclable waste from organic materials will be fined under the new regulations. The Ministry are working to draft the regulations to be included under the Solid waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007. And under the Act, five milion households in the Peninsula will receive a bin for household waste.

According to the National Solid Waste Management Department Director general, Datuk Nadzri Yahaya, the regulations will comple people to seperate their household waste. Under the new regulation, a fine would be imposed if garbage is not sorted. New rubbish collecting lories equipped to receive the sorted garbage would also be put on the road. People can put the recycleables in plastic bags, and the rubbish collectors will seperate it. The garbage collection also will be increased, from the currents two days a week to thrice, with one day reserved for the collection of recycleables only.However, the details have yet to be finalised.

After finished reading the news, my mind started to think.Will they able to achieve the target? Are Malaysian people ready to follow the regulations? Well,let’s wait and see people!

p/s –I think it is better for us to start seperate our own waste. Which waste that can be recycled, bring it to recycle place itself. Let’s make it as a habit.After all, It’s not difficult, is it?:)

Source: theSun (01/10/2010)

Plastic or Paper?

The debate over paper or plastic grocery bags has no apparent end in sight. Arguments can be made for either paper or plastic as the most environmentally responsible material, but some have settled the issue by switching to reusable cloth sacks. While this solution may be elegant, most consumers are still confronted with the paper or plastic question whenever they shop for groceries. In order to decide between the two choices, it might help to examine what is meant by "better for the environment."

Very few manufacturing processes have absolutely no negative impact on the environment. In the paper or plastic debate, paper is often promoted as the wiser choice for the environment because of its organic nature and biodegradibility. Paper for grocery bags is created from natural pulp derived from an abundant supply of commercial trees. There are no artificial dyes added to the product, and paper grocery bags degrade relatively quickly in landfills and other sides. From the aspect of biodegradibility and raw materials, paper would appear to win the argument between paper or plastic.

The paper bags must be manufactured somewhere, however, and that means factories which require significant amounts of energy to operate. These factories also discharge waste products into local waterways and into the air. Trees work as carbon dioxide traps and also provide a supply of fresh oxygen for all of the Earth's inhabitants. If the paper industry does not maintain a program of replacing the trees it uses for production, the environment as a whole could suffer. When it comes to responsible use of natural resources, biodegradable plastic may have a slight advantage in the paper or plastic debate.

Proponents of plastic grocery bags suggest that traditional petroleum-based plastics may not be as environmentally friendly as organic paper, but manufacturer can produce many more plastic bags for the same amount of expended energy. When factories are able to work more efficiently, the environment benefits as well. It takes fewer natural resources such as coal and gas to produce plastic bags in bulk, compared to the more labor-intensive manufacturing required to produce paper bags.

The problem with traditional petroleum-based plastic bags, environmentally speaking, is their chemical nature. Plastic bags can take centuries to degrade, and they discharge environmentally harmful gases as they do. Plastic bags can also block sunlight, which can hamper the natural reclamation process as small plants die off. Recently developed biodegradable plastic bags made from non-petroleum sources have improved conditions somewhat, but there are still millions of traditional plastic bags sitting virtually unchanged under the ground.

Plastic bags are indeed recyclable, which should be a positive step for the environment, but few customers actually return their plastic bags to the store. Paper bags, on the other hand, may be made from recycled materials and waste pulp from other processes. When it comes to ability to be recycled, the paper or plastic debate leans towards paper. If a biodegradable plastic grocery bag made from organic materials should appear, however, the scales may become a little more balanced.