Malaysia is taking one great leap in caring for the environment and conservation efforts by making waste separation a mandatory requirement for residents. This marks an important milestone for our country as we aim to be a more environmentally sustainable country.
Although still at its early stage of implementation, Malaysians are now more exposed to carry out waste management and also to be more aware of how will this new policy be impactful towards the conservation of the environment. Besides separating waste, here are some ways to reduce wastage and manage your rubbish effectively.
Buy food that has less packaging or bring your own container
You may not realise that when you place an order for a take-away, you are actually producing a higher amount of waste. Single-use food and beverage packaging is the major source of about 269,000 tons of plastic pollution that are currently floating around in the world’s oceans, harming both marine life and human health as well. Bottled water might be very handy but if you were to invest in a good bottle to keep your water, you would have help to reduce the use of hard-to-recycle plastic. This is the same for transparent plastic containers, instead use cooler bags and reusable containers. This is because the recycling process of plastic is actually more tedious. So, next time when you visit your nearby restaurant for a take-away, bring along your trusty tiffin carrier or any reusable container to reduce the use of packaging.
Just following the golden rule: think before you print, you can actually reduce the usage of paper by 20% or more. Hitting the print button is too easy and most often people do not realise that they are just being wasteful. Simply recheck e-mail prints and avoid printing out single liners or unnecessary copies of documents; use both sides of the sheet of paper and use technology smartly to reduce the use of paper.
Donate items when possible
One man’s junk may be another man’s treasure. Human beings actually do not need so much things to live a comfortable life, just the essentials will do. Schedule at least a once-a-year spring cleaning to reorganise and clear out your home. Many people will come to realise that a significant portion of clothes in the cupboard have not been worn that frequently, some may even still be new clothes. Help out other people by donating your pre-loved clothes to H&M or to any community centres or to Unicef or to people that cannot afford to buy any clothes. You can also send unwanted, torn, clothes to your local charity or recycle bins for recycling and help generate a micro-economics and create job opportunities for third world countries.
Though this is among the most basic thing to do, many have ignored this important step. The recycling facility process differs according to the method or machine used, some will use a mix of people and machines to sort then purify or clean everything according to type while some will only use machine, so when recyclables are collected, facilities would greatly appreciate if materials are in a cleaner form for easier processing and sorting. While metal is the least sensitive to contaminants, plastic is the easiest to be contaminated (residue from labels can actually alter its chemistry and affect the quality of the recycled material in the end!). This is why recycling facilities have robust cleaning processes in place. So, help save excess energy generation by simply rinsing and removing possible contaminants when you are separating your junk.
Use cloth bags instead of plastic bags when shopping
Explore farmer’s markets produce in bulk and not use smaller plastic bags but carry them in reusable bags (say no to the use of plastic bags). This small measure will greatly reduce the amount of junk generated. Bring along these reusable cloth bags whenever you go shopping and use them instead of accepting plastic bags from the store.
Plan ahead by placing several reusable bags in handy places like your kitchen, your car trunk, place one in your work bag and your day bag too so you will have one at-hand when needed.
Waste management can be even simpler and environmentally friendly when you practice using recycled products in your everyday life.
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Author Bio: This post was written by Celestine Na from iPrice group.