Penang Island racks up 16 tonnes more rubbish this year

GEORGE TOWN – The Penang Island City Council saw a 16-tonne spike in waste collection this year compared with last year.

The council attributed the increase to the development of e-commerce platforms and food delivery services.

The average collection from January to August last year was 631.26 tonnes, which increased to 647.75 tonnes from January to August this year.

From the total waste, 15.4% comprises plastics, with 51.31% from plastic food packaging and plastic bags, and 18.05% comprises delivery packaging.

Paper made up 9.9% of the total waste, with 40.8% from food delivery packaging.

During the 2022 budget presentation, Mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang said that the city council will continue to emphasise waste reduction through 5R practices namely refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle.

“Public education has been an important component, especially in the promotion of Bring Your Own Container initiatives, waste segregation programs at source, and so on.

“A total of RM60,000 will be allocated for the purpose so that the council’s recycling rate target of 35% by next year can be achieved,” he said.

Meanwhile, Green Hero founder, Calvin Chan, told The Vibes that there are private enterprises and small groups engaging food vendors to consider environmentally friendly ways of packing food.

As an online platform that aims to reduce food waste through environmentally friendly initiatives, Green Hero has been working with restaurants, bakeries and cafes on ways to reduce plastic usage by using biodegradable sugarcane boxes and even reusing plastic bags and tetra paks to carry food.

“Our sushi partners now use biodegradable food boxes for takeaway, made partly from sugar cane waste. So, they cannot pack sushi in normal plastic boxes.

“We work with the Second Life for Packaging group by utilising used, but clean, plastic bags and paper bags.

“We distribute them to all our partners and every time there is a Green Hero order, they will have to utilise the used packaging we provide for them.

“We have a kuih merchant that used to pack food using plastic bags, but now they use banana leaf or, if there is not enough, they use wax paper.

“Our smoothie partner reuses tetra pak boxes, which are cleaned, sterilised and heated before being filled,” he said.

Chan believes that waste reduction will be more effective if the local government or other governmental agencies can identify small groups and businesses, such as Green Hero, to reduce waste stemming from food deliveries and e-commerce.

“The government can work with them or provide them with manpower and support as right now, these groups are doing it on a small scale, and most of them are doing it on a part-time basis.

“It will be great if they can approach these groups, for us to show them what to do, and how to do it – we are more than happy to provide guidance.

“They will have to provide the manpower and finance so we can succeed in reducing waste that comes from packaging,” he said. – The Vibes, September 27, 2021