Solving the plastic problem

Used plastic bottles were stacked neatly in a bag at the illegal dumpsite waiting to be sent for recycling.

OF late, there has been so much media coverage on plastic waste, especially on the environmental damage due to improper disposal of plastic, that I thought it might be of interest to consumers, environmentalists, municipal authorities and regular Malaysians to see this issue from the perspective of a plastics re-cycler.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to recycling plastic wastes and efforts by municipal authorities and environmentalists will be futile if the regulatory and legislative frameworks governing solid waste management are not conducive and if there is no infrastructure for systematic collection and sorting of plastic wastes and subsequent distribution to plastic re-cyclers.