PETALING JAYA: Only a small phase of the group is taking steps to scale back plastic utilization, greater than a decade after official discouragement on the usage of single-use plastics was sparked, say NGOs and associations.
Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) president Prof Dr Ahmad Ismail stated decreasing the usage of plastic straws and baggage just isn’t but a behavior amongst Malaysians.
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“If you sit for one hour at a restaurant, you will see a lot of people still using straws. Some restaurants put the straws at the counter for the customer to decide whether to use a straw – and the customer will still opt for one,” he stated.
Even although plastic utilization elevated in the course of the pandemic, Ahmad famous that Malaysians nonetheless have to be aggressively educated on the results of plastics to the surroundings.
“We saw more plastic usage from online shopping and food containers, and in the process of avoiding contact (during the pandemic), we used a lot of plastics from gloves and containers.
“It is a part of life, so we need to increase public awareness because for now, we can see that people are still using single-use plastics. If we still pollute the environment with plastics, it means that we are not aware,” he stated.
According to him, plastic is a harmful element as micro plastics will be carried by marine life. These plastics return to us within the type of meals.
“Micro plastics have been reported in the human lungs, blood and faeces. This needs to be understood by all and together, we need to manage plastic pollution or avoid using plastics,” he stated.
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Sahabat Alam Malaysia’s Mageswari Sangaralingam seconded the opinion.
Behavioural change, she stated, just isn’t widespread sufficient as disposables are nonetheless extensively used within the meals sector and moist markets.
“There needs to be a clear phaseout and ban of non-essential single-use plastics and sachets.
“These can be replaced with alternative delivery systems. We also need policies to ensure corporations take responsibility for their products and packaging,” she stated.
Mageswari urged the federal government to implement the obligatory waste separation legislation to scale back mixing and contamination of plastic waste.
“Plastic pollution is of serious concern. We need to take action to protect ourselves, our families, our communities and the planet from plastic pollution,” he stated.
Restaurant and Bistro Owners Association vice-president Jeremy Lim stated there’s a small however rising inhabitants of shoppers bringing their very own baggage and containers for takeaway.
“There are no issues for restaurants complying with the single-use plastic bans.
“Majority of the businesses have reverted to alternatives (paper, bamboo or steel straws), but there may be a population of consumers that still requires straws – kids, elderly or those with special needs,” he stated.
“So far, we only issue these alternative straws upon requests. Plastic bags have generally been replaced by paper bags.
“We also noticed a small population of consumers in urban market centres that have been using their containers and their own carry bags,” he added.
Lim stated that consumption of plastic packaging elevated in the course of the lockdown interval, the place nearly 100% of orders have been meant for supply they usually couldn’t supply for different carry circumstances as outlets have been closed.
