Lately “No Plastic Bag” campaign have been an issue in Malaysia to create an awareness among the public. In fact minority of people are practicing the habit of bringing their own recycle bag to hypermarkets or even shopping malls. Some will bring lots of recycle shopping bags and toss them into their car. While some prefer to bring a few into their shopping bag in case they wanted to make any purchases. Thus, starting on Jan 09 this year for every Saturdays, Selangor hypermarts will not provide any plastic bags for their consumers. By 2010, all plastic bags will be eliminated in Carrefour Malaysia. However, for customers who insisted on plastic bag,will have to pay RM0.10 per bag, while some places are charging RM0.20 per bag and RM1.99 for reusable bag and some offering carton boxes for their customers.
Danger of Plastic
Plastic takes as long as 1,,000 years for plastic bag to decompose?Plastic is a major toxic pollutants on earth. It containts non-biodegradale substance, composed of toxic chemicals, and most of all it pollutes our earth, air and water.
And every time we use a plastic bag, we drive up the demand for oil – which is used to make plastics.
The major chemicals that goes into the making of plastic are highly toxic and pose serious threat to living beings of all species on earth. When recycling plastics, it creates hazard and since plastic does not undergo bacterial decomposition, landfilling using plastic means preserving the poison forever. Plastic can’t be burn either as it will releases toxic.
Apart from these, recycling of plastic is very uneconomical, dirty and labour-intensive.
Recycling of plastic is also connected with skin and respiratory problems, resulting from exposure to and inhalation of toxic fumes, especially hydrocarbons and residues released during the process. Through the process of recycling, plastic degrades in quality and necessitates the production of more new plastic to make the original product.
Dengue on the rise when plastic wastes clog the drains. Some are even dumped into rivers, streams and seas contaminating the water, soil, marine life and also the air we breathe. Clog drains not only provide an excellent breeding grounds for disease-causing mosquitoes and finally causes flood during the monsoons.
There are no ways to get rid of plastic in the landfil, because any attempt to get rid of plastic through landfills is also dangerous. Toxic from the landfill, will result in the contamination of our water sources, the waste mass impedes the flow of ground water as well and obstructs the movement of roots thereby badly affecting the soils biological balance and organic processes.
Landfills are also prone to leaks. The wastes especially cadmium and lead in the wastes invariably mix with rain water, then seep through the ground and drain into nearby streams and lakes and other water bodies. Thus the water we use gets poisoned.
The only way out of the deadly and lasting danger of plastic is to cut down the use of plastic, if not avoid it altogether. Little plannings will make big changes to save our earth or else we are really in big trouble in the near future.
Say no to plastic whenever and wherever you can.
What about the waste ……..
Comment from a senior citizen: (Age 50 and above)
Recycling by not providing enough recycling bin is also a problem in Malaysia. For example, high rise residential building are not provided recycle bin to throw their waste. What about watery waste, where are we suppose to throw them? As for landed housing area, they can easily dig a hole in their garden and throw their waste and decomposition will easily take place. If high rise apartments or condominium throw their watery waste into the rubbish bin which is placed on every floor unit, the pungent smells will be unbearable. We have many garbage enzymes and we can’t possibly make more of it. Till now, apart from plastic bags to throw our watery waste. We can’t think of any other ways.
