MPAJ drives home benefits of recycling

Participants looking at products made from recycled materials on the sidelines of the talk.

EVERY Malaysian should practise reduce, reuse and recycle (3R) to help save the planet.

This is the main takeaway from the talk on recycling organised by the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) at its headquarters in Pandan Indah.

Held for the third time, the talk brought together three experts who shared with representatives of joint management bodies, management committees and residents associations as well as neighbourhood watch bodies from all over Ampang on the importance of recycling.

Global Environment Centre senior

programme officer Jagedeswari Marriappan shared that recycling could also be a way to make extra income.

She said Recycle for Life is a programme

by Cenviro that offers rewards to registered individuals or associations through a smart card.

“Residents need to organise the recyclables, according to groups, which will be collected by our vendors.

“We will then debit the money into

their smart card account according to the weight of the recyclables,” Jagedeswari said, adding that the smart card could be used to buy groceries at selected stores.

Pembinaan Sri Gunung operations manager Zainal Abidin Elias encouraged all to send used cooking oil for recycling.

“Instead of pouring used cooking oil

into the sink and pollute the drains, you can recycle the oil into biodiesel, make candles, detergent or animal feed.

“Cooking oil cannot be used more than three times. The oil becomes acidic and can cause cancer as well as Alzheimer’s disease to users,” he added.

He said used cooking oil could be sold at RM1 per kg.

Composting is another way to reduce, reuse and recycle kitchen scraps, and earn a few bucks in return.

Biosense Sdn Bhd chief executive officer

Dr Rokiah Hassan said food waste could be turned into fertiliser.

“Malaysians dispose of about 3,000 metric tonnes of food daily, and the amount continues to increase especially during festive seasons,” she said, urging participants to compost their food waste.

“People must follow the steps accordingly to achieve good results and to prevent stench during the process,” Dr Rokiah said.

Schools are also encouraged to have their own compost programme.

“SMK Taman Kosas has made good money through composting, and the sum is used to fund school activities,” she added.