Ladies and gentlemen, a very Good Morning and welcome to the Green Pinang Award Presentation Ceremony 2015.
Today’s ceremony celebrates those who had made a difference in helping Penang to go green either with good practices, promoting education awareness and introducing green technology that is economically viable.
This year, PGC introduced two new awards, the Penang Environmental Sustainability Award and Penang Environmental Stewardship Award. These two awards pay tribute to organisations and individuals for their significant and sustained commitment, dedication and leadership to improvise and conserve the environment.
We would like to congratulate winners of Penang Green School Award, Penang Green Office Project Certification. Penang Green Journalism Award and Penang Green Video Contest will also be awarded today. I would like to express our sincere gratitude to our panel judges.
Today, we will also give Certificate of Appreciation to honour 4 individuals and organisations in Penang that obtained recognition for their contributions and hard work.
From next year, Penang Green Office will reach out to 26 main government offices in Penang. Our target is to achieve 100% Green Offices in the government sector by the end of 2018.
In a recent public survey conducted by Penang Green Council named “Human Behaviour Towards Solid Waste Segregation at Source and Recycling Practices” on 1484 respondents, 78.6% of respondents have segregated the recyclable items before it placed in the trash. 86.5% of respondents agreed if by- laws are enforced to encourage recycling and increase rate in Penang. Our No Free Plastic Bags campaign launched in July 2009 has made some progress, 80.7% of the respondents now bring their own bags for shopping.
World Bank has pointed out that “A city that cannot effectively manage its waste is rarely able to manage more complex services such as health, education or transportation”. Penang holds the national record for the highest recycling rate in the country at 32%, which is far exceeding the current national recycling rate 10.5%, it is also higher than the national target, of only 22% and that also by 2020. We hope to achieve a recycling rate of 40% by 2020. The Federal Government has started to practice mandatory separation at source since September this year. The Penang state government will make sure waste separation at source will be implemented smoothly throughout the state by end of 2016.
We would also like to extend our appreciation to our working partners, co-organisers and sponsors: MBPP,MPSP, Eco-world, Continental Automotive Components Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Infitech Machinery Sdn Bhd, Guppy Plastic Industries Sdn Bhd, Malaysian Automotive Lighting Sdn Bhd, Muda Paper Mills Sdn Bhd, Suiwah Corporation Berhad, Eastern & Oriental Berhad, Mahsing Group, Canon Marketing, Sandwich Multimedia, Popular Bookstore, Matahari, Jasper Promenade, and Photobooth0808.
Last but not least, congratulations to all! These awards are valuable recognition of your commitment to lead the state to be a Green State in the near future. Moving forward, we pledge to continue to deliver excellent accomplishments and commitments to a positive environmental change. We hope to inspire more people to strive as a sustainable and livable city by providing cleaner, greener, safer and healthier living environment for everyone in Penang.
Thank you!