Statement by Thing Siew Shuen in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday, 11^th June 2008: 

In order to promote 4R: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, and be Responsible, DAP Headquarters in Petaling Jaya has set up a recyclable items collection centre

In order to promote 4R: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, and be Responsible, DAP Headquarters in Petaling Jaya has set up a recyclable items collection centre on 10 June 2008. This provides the community a facility to manage their recyclable household waste.

The recycling bin is provided by Pertubuhan Amal Seri Sinar Kuala Lumpur & Selangor, which is a non-profit organization. They will collect the recyclable items from the recycling bin periodically. The proceeds from selling these recyclable items will be used to help those in need, including orphans, underprivileged children, the sick, the disabled, needy single mothers, etc.

On average, the amount of waste generated in Malaysia is 0.8kg per capital per day. Last year, Malaysians generated in excess of 7.3 million tonnes of garbage – enough to fill 42 Petronas Twin Towers.

Among the waste we produced, there are as high as 70% of the waste are recyclable, such as beverage package, steel and aluminium cans, glass jars and bottles, milk bottles, plastics containers, cardboard and paper, clean polystyrene foam food containers as well as biodegradable organic waste. Traditionally, they will all end up in landfills. Due to the lack of an effective and concrete waste management system, they also shorten the lifespan of landfills and cause a huge environmental problem.

Our government has launched the recycling campaign in 2001. Unfortunately, over the years, the national recycling rate is still below 5%. In 2007, the BN government has passed the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Bill 2007 , Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation Bill 2007 in haste despite strong opposition by concerned groups. The new acts allow the federal government to take over the management of solid wastes and public cleansing from the local authorities. Until today, they have not been implemented yet.

Before the waste management policy are implemented in a systematic way and accepted publicly, we urge everyone to volunteer in waste separation, and be a part of our 4R( Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, and Responsible) and be an environmental-friendly Malaysian.

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* Thing Siew Shuen, Environmental Officer to DAP Secretary-General