99 Speedmart Menyalurkan Hasil Kutipan RM30,000 Dari Kempen 'Hari Tanpa Beg Plastik'Kepada Global Environment Centre(GEC)

Sg. Buloh, 21 Januari 2011 (Jumaat) - Kumpulan pasarakyat 99 Speedmart
pada hari ini memberi sumbangan sebanyak RM30,000 kepada Global
Environment Centre (GEC), sebuah badan bukan kerajaan yang bertumpu
pada isu-isu alam sekitar di Malaysia. Sumbangan tersebut disalurkan
daripada kutipian 99 Speedmart yang menyertai kempen "Hari Tanpa Beg
Plastik" anjuran Kerajaan Negeri Selangor.

Penyampaian cek dibuat oleh Quek Teng Hiong, pengurus besar 99
Speedmart Sdn Bhd dan disaksikan oleh YB Elizabeth Wong, EXCO
Pelancongan, Hal Ehwal Pengguna dan Alam Sekitar, Kerajaan Negeri
Selangor. Upcara tersebut diadakan di cawangan 99 Speedmart di Bandar
Baru Sungai Buloh.

Dengan lebih 200 cawangan di Lembah Klang, 99 Speedmart merupakan
salah satu penyokong kempen "Hari Tanpa Beg Plastik" yang terawal dan
terpenting, sejak usaha tersebut dilancarkan pada permulaan tahun
2010. Usaha Kerajaan Negeri Selangor tersebut bertujuan untuk
mengurangkan penggunaan beg plastik di negeri ini melalui satu kempen
sukarela yang kini disertai oleh lebih dari 80 peruncit.

Setiap hari Sabtu, peruncit-peruncit ini menggalakkan pengguna untuk
membawa bersama beg membeli-belah mereka sendiri dengan mengenakan
bayaran 20 sen untuk setiap beg plastik yang diberi. Kutipan duit ini
disalurkan kepada program tanggungjawab sosial korporat (CSR),
kebajikan dan badan-badan bukan kerajaan (NGO).

Kempen "Hari Tanpa Beg Plastik" ini amat berjaya sehingga Kerajaan
Persekutuan mengikuti jejak langkah Kerajaan Negeri Selangor melalui
kempen yang serupa di seluruh negara.

"Saya ingin mengucapkan tahniah kepada semua peruncit yang bantu
menjayakan kempen 'Hari Tanpa Beg Plastik' yang dianjurkan oleh
Kerajaan Negeri Selangor," kata Wong. "Melalui usaha mereka, kita
telah berjaya mengurangkan lebih dari 4 juta beg plastik pada tahun
lepas. Di samping itu, kita juga berjaya meningkatkan kesedaran rakyat
Selangor terhadap kepentingan menjaga alam sekitar. Pada hari ini,
melalui 99 Speedmart dan GEC, kita dapat melihat satu lagi hasil
kempen ini, iaitu penyaluran duit kutipan kempen terhadap usaha yang
baik."

"Ini merupakan cara kami untuk menunjukkan kepada rakyat betapa
pentingnya melindungi alam sekitar melalui pengurangan kegunaan beg
plastik," kata Quek. "Terbukti juga janji kami bahawa kesemua kutipan
melalui kempen ini akan disalurkan terhadap perlindungan bumi untuk
generasi akan datang."

"Kami berasa amat bersyukur kerana dipilih untuk menerima sumbangan
ini dan ingin memberi penghargaan kepada 99 Speedmart kerana menyertai
kempen 'Hari Tanpa Beg Plastik,'" kata Chee Tong Yiew, pengurus GEC
yang menerima cek tersebut. "Kempen tersebut bukan sahaja berjaya
mengurangkan penggunaan beg plastik tetapi juga membawa faedah secara
tidak langsung kepada penjagaan alam sekitar, misalnya melalui
sumbangan seperti ini."

Menurut Chee, sumbangan tersebut akan digunakan oleh GEC untuk
menyokong aktiviti kesedaran alam sekitar seperti program penjagaan
sungai di peringkat sekolah, aktiviti Renjer Sungai seperti pemantauan
kualiti air dan program kitar semula, dan juga aktiviti pemeliharaan
dan pemuliharaan hutan bakau di Klang.

Oxo-Biodegradable Plastics is NOT the solution!

State slams ‘green’ plastics

BUTTERWORTH: The state government believes the use of biodegradable plastic bags is not a better option to counter the state’s policy of reducing the use of plastic bags to protect the environment.

State Local Government and Traffic Management Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the state disagreed with plastic manufacturers, which claimed biodegradable plastics were more environmental friendly.

Why it’s good but why it should be better!

No Plastic Bag Day: Why it’s good but why it should be better!

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Ana

So in recent headlines, the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry has made ‘No Plastic Bag Day’ Saturdays applicable throughout the country – instead of just in Penang and Selangor before – and, in an effort to make the campaign more effective, they’ve also implemented a 20 sen charge on shoppers for each new plastic bag used at hypermarkets, supermarkets and Petronas service stations on the day.

It gets a lot stricter in Penang, where the state’s Consumer Watch Group has made every day  ‘No Plastic Bag Day’ (also with the 20 sen charge), which also coincides with Penang’s new ‘No Polystyrene at Local Council Hawker Centres’ ruling, following the state’s efforts last year on educating their public about the new rulings for 2011.

Many using recyclable bags at hypermarts

By LIM CHIA YING chiaying@thestar.com.my
Photos by RAYMOND OOI

It has been slightly over a year now since the Selangor government started its ‘No Plastic Bag Day’ campaign on Saturdays.

Selangor Tourism, Consumer Affairs and Environment committee chairman Elizabeth Wong said the response had been good, with calls by several retailers to increase the number of days for the campaign.

“Initially, there were some hiccups and they were concerned whether they could actually do it or not,” said Wong.

“However, the retailers have now become one of our strongest advocates and some even embarked on their own initiative, like AEON where after three to four months of joining the campaign, has called for their Jusco outlets in Kuala Lumpur to be part of it too.

For wider coverage of the campaign to include sundry shops and neighbourhood grocery stores, local councils and the Housing and Local Government Ministry need to be involved,” she said.

“Some small retailers have stopped giving plastic bags completely and have substituted this with paper bags instead.

Shopping made easy: Shoppers at Tesco Mutiara Damansara filling their bags with items.

“Even some local councils, like Sandakan in Sabah, have also adopted Saturdays for the No Plastic Bag policy,” she said.

黃潔冰：年杪達目標‧雪減用1千萬個塑膠袋 - SinChew

SinChew
16 Sept 2010

黃潔冰：雪州在推行無塑膠袋日推行半年后，
已經成功減少使用500萬個塑膠袋的數量。
（圖：星洲日報）

（雪蘭莪‧八打靈再也14日訊）掌管雪州旅遊、環境及消費人事務的行政議員黃潔冰有信心，雪州能在年尾達到減少使用1千萬個塑膠袋的目標。她說，截至6月的統計，雪州在推行無塑膠袋日半年後，已經成功減少使用500萬個塑膠袋的數量。雪州政府自年初起把週六定為無塑膠袋日取得良好的反應，已經有越來越多的公眾出門或購物時，都自備環保袋，而州政府對這項所取得的成果感到滿意。
“雪州政府今年就已經免費派發了2萬5千個環保袋給民眾，並且會持續派發更多的環保袋。” 明年增加無塑膠袋日天數 她透露，雪州政府正著手計劃在明年推行另一階段的計劃，包括增加雪州無塑膠袋日的天數、持續減少使用塑膠袋的數量、增加環保運動計劃、減少土埋場的垃圾數量、節省用水計劃等。至於進一步的細節，黃潔冰表示現階段不方便透露太多，唯只是強調一切細節預計將在開齋節後做詳細的公佈。
小販零售商未加入行列
另一方面，黃潔冰指出，截至9月為止已經有超過300間的商家參與及支持雪州政府的無塑膠袋日。不過如巴剎小販等零售商，則尚未真正加入此陣容，估計明年開始會逐漸參與。她說，儘管早前曾建議把無塑膠袋日列為更新執照的條件之一，不過尚需有關單位進行進一步的討論與研究。詢及是否有使用能分解的塑膠袋，黃潔冰指出，能分解的塑膠袋被放到垃圾土埋場後，也必須擁有充足的陽光與氧氣才能在最短的時間內分解，否則溶解的時間就會相對拉長。
星洲日報／大都會‧2010.09.15

Plastic bags: Mall owners should play their role - NST

Image via WikipediaNST
24 Aug 2010
POOJA STANSLAS, Subang Jaya, Selangor

THE recent move by certain state governments to introduce "No Plastic Bag" on certain days of the week is very heartening.  The core message is to promote a society which is environmentally conscious and serious in reversing environmental degradation caused by unsustainable development.

It has been well documented that plastic bags which are not biodegradable find their way into our oceans and seas. Endangered marine life such as turtles and dugong consume them and die.  However, what I find oddly ironic (and amusing, if it is not such a grave error) is the generosity with which supermarkets dish out the plastic bags on non "No Plastic Bag" days. I wonder whether the message even struck a chord with them, that in order to save the environment and our endangered species, we should limit the use of plastic bags; if possible eliminate their use.

Often I tell cashiers to place the purchases in a big bag to avoid using too many plastic bags. As much as I try using recyclable bags, I admit it is difficult to remember making them a part of my shopping life.
Supermarket owners must actively contribute to preserving the environment, without being directed by politicians to act, in a socially responsible manner.  I urge them to introduce paper bags. It would be welcomed by all and the cost easily covered by the huge profits they are making.  Corporate capitalism demands capitalists to be ethical and help advance human development, and not merely be concerned with lining their pockets.

I urge the supermarkets and big malls to start the ball rolling now.

巴生市会重点推动 环保从班达马兰开始 - Nanyang

南洋商报 Nanyang
2 August 2010

巴生市会重点推动 环保从班达马兰开始
Klang Local Council actively promoting environment protection, starting from Pandamaran

刘天球：配合环保 雪30%土地列绿肺 - SinChew

星洲日报 SinChew
2 August 2010

刘天球：配合环保 雪30%土地列绿肺
YB Ronnie Liu: Selangor State Govt committed 30% of forest reserves as green lung
需中央首肯 雪采新科技处理垃圾
Urging Federal Government to adopt new technology for waste management in Selangor

The plastic menace - TheNutGraph

TheNutGraph
20 July 2010
Gan Pei Ling

“IT’s not sexy, that’s why nobody cares,” a friend comments on why few Malaysians are concerned about the problem of plastic waste even though it threatens the environment that sustains us. “It’s sexier to talk about renewable energy and green buildings than how we handle our trash,” the friend adds.

That is until some of our state and local governments took the initiative to launch No Plastic Bag Day campaigns. Penang was the first to launch the campaign in July 2009. Those without reusable bags have to pay 20 sen for a plastic bag when they shop on Mondays. In January 2010, the campaign was extended to include Tuesdays and Wednesdays. At the same time, Selangor launched its own No Plastic Bag Day campaign on Saturdays. Subsequently, the Miri and Sibu municipal councils in Sarawak, as well as Kota Kinabalu city hall and six other districts in Sabah announced similar campaigns.

How effective are these campaigns? Can they really help save the planet? And what can be done to make these campaigns more popular?

Campaigns’ effectiveness

The idea of banning plastic bags to reduce its use is not new. In 2002, Ireland imposed a 15 euro cent tax on plastic bags, and its use dropped over 90% within five months. In the same year, Bangladesh banned polyethylene bags in Dhaka as the bags were choking the drainage system and causing floods in the capital.

China banned plastic bags in 2008. A year later, it was reported that the country saved the equivalent of 1.6 million tonnes of oil and 40 billion bags. Other countries that have introduced additional charges or tax on plastic bags include Rwanda, Eritrea and Switzerland.

In Selangor, the use of plastic bags was reduced by five million in the first four months of its campaign. In Penang, the amount was one million bags over the same period.

(Pic by roberto / sxc.hu)

Despite such reductions in plastic bag use, Ireland’s scheme has been criticised for triggering a 400% increase in the purchase of bin liners and greater reliance on paper bags. Contrary to the popular belief that paper bags are more eco-friendly, they actually require more energy to manufacture and cause more pollution during production. This probably explains why Penang and Selangor did not compel or encourage retailers to replace plastic with paper bags.

Convincing the public

Asking consumers to sacrifice requires some doing, especially when Malaysians are so used to free plastic bags that some consumers mistake it as a “right”. Some consumer associations, for example, claimed that the 20 sen charge was decided without their consultation and was therefore unfair.

Perhaps as a public relations measure to help consumers make the switch, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng announced that the state would use the funds collected from the plastic bag charges to eradicate hardcore poverty.

In Selangor, participating retailers are required to use the funds to conduct corporate social responsibility programmes. The Selangor government encourages these retailers to conduct programmes relating to the environment.

Perhaps one other way to compel consumers to change their lifestyle is to lead them to the Pacific Garbage Patch that stretches several hundred miles in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest of five plastic garbage patches in our oceans. For now, there is no way to clean up these garbage patches, scientists say.

As a result of our consumption and disposal of plastic, scientists estimate there are six times more plastic than plankton in the “continent”. Trapped by circulating ocean currents, the plastic we throw away are choking fishes and seabirds to death as the marine animals mistake them for food. Every year, more than 100,000 marine animals such as dolphins, whales and sea turtles are killed because of plastic bags.

Plastic waste found on the beach in Kuantan (Pic by Carolyn Lau and Ng Sek San)

If we don’t care about marine life, here’s another thought that should give us pause. Plastics absorb pollutants like polychlorinated biphenyls, otherwise known as cancer-causing PCBs, and pesticides.

“These particles are ingested by marine life and pass into our food chain. We all do it: we throw this stuff, this packaging, what I call dumb plastic, into the bin, and we think it has gone. But it comes back to us one way or another. Some of it ends up on our dinner plates,” British adventurer and environmentalist David de Rothschild tells The Guardian.

In 2009, Rothschild sailed to the patch in a vessel made entirely of plastics called Plastiki. The billionaire banking heir has definitely found a way to make the issue of plastic waste seem sexier.

Considering some of the gruesome facts surrounding plastic bags pollution, 20 sen per bag is a really small price to pay.

Other solutions

The Malaysian Plastic Manufacturers Association has proposed to the Penang government to give out free oxo-biodegradable plastic bags so that consumers can still enjoy free plastic bags on campaign days.

However, oxo-biodegradable plastic bags are not 100% degradable. They can only degrade in the presence of sunlight and oxygen. Those that end up in landfills would not degrade at all. Therefore, reusable bags are still the best option.

For certain, most of our plastic waste comes from packaging that is often unnecessary. Malaysian consumers cannot hope to rely solely on governments to resolve our plastic waste problem. After all, in a marketplace driven by profit, consumer demand and lifestyle are often much more powerful than government regulations.

As Leo Hickman writes in The Guardian on 11 Aug 2009: “[Plastic bags] are the ultimate symbol of our throwaway culture.”

No Plastic Bag Day campaigns are merely the first step towards stimulating the public to rethink the impact of our “use and throw” habit on the very environment that sustains us.

Compulsary for new Malls in Selangor - No Plastic Bag Day