We need to break the waste cycle by reducing, reusing, and recycling right now. The amount of waste we throw away grows by the day. It’s not only unsightly, but it’s also harmful to the environment. If we don’t do something to reduce, reuse, and recycle our waste, it will only get worse.
We can do better
The World Bank’s “What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050” report states that global waste generation is expected to increase by approximately 3.4 billion tonnes per year by 2050.
Malaysia produces over 30,000 tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (“MSW”), commonly known as trash or garbage, every day, which amounts to about 1.17kg of waste per capita.
MSW poses significant environmental issues, polluting air, water, and soil while releasing greenhouse gases that worsen climate change.
Food waste is the most significant component of MSW, followed by plastic, paper, mixed organic, wood, and others.
Despite efforts to discourage the use of single-use plastic, the consumption of plastic packaging for food in Malaysia increased to 148,000 tonnes in 2020, indicating a concerning upward trend in plastic usage.
Malaysia’s recycling rate for MSW is approximately 31%, while Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea have higher rates. The government aims to increase the recycling rate to 40%.
What Can We Do?
Reduce
Buy fewer items, opt for repairs instead of disposal, compost food scraps, avoid food waste, and excess packaging. These are just a few ways to achieve waste reduction. Yayasan Food Bank Malaysia rescues surplus food from various industries and redistribute it to B40 communities. www.yfbm.org
Reuse
Reuse things by bringing our own bags to the grocery store, using reusable water bottles, and donating unwanted items. These are some of many practices that exemplify various ways of reusing items. Donate textiles, belts, hats, garments, footwear, toys, bedsheets, tablecloths, and more to Kloth Cares. www.kloth.com.my
Recycle
We can recycle paper, plastic, metal, and glass to help reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills and the ocean. Community Recycle for Charity collects unwanted items and recycles them. www.crcbox.org
Tropicana Lifestyle (tropicana.t360@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.