Banking on a ban to save the planet

Plastic crisis: Poh taking photos of trash on the riverbank of Sungai Tebrau. — THOMAS YONG/The Star

JOHOR BARU: There is a pressing need to restart Johor’s ban on single-use plastics and polystyrene, says Safe Johor River founder Poh Pai Yik.

He said efforts to implement and enforce the ban since it was introduced by the state government in 2019 had been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“People seemed to have gone back to their old habit of using single-use plastic bags, especially when they go to the market. This creates a lot of unnecessary waste that eventually ends up in landfills and the ocean.

“I have also received complaints of traders going back to using polystyrene packaging for food and beverages as it is cheaper and also readily available.

“It is high time that the ‘No Plastics’ ban is reintroduced in Johor and for stricter enforcement to be carried out,” he told The Star.

Poh said his NGO organised river-cleaning activities in Sungai Tebrau, which is one of the country’s most polluted rivers with tonnes of rubbish such as plastic bottles and bags, polystyrene containers and bubble tea plastic cups being dumped there.

“Apart from the F&B industry, the government should also check on the agriculture sector where single-use plastics and polystyrene are being used in large quantities,” he added.

He cited pineapple farming as an example in which single-use polystyrene plates were used to cover each fruit to shield it from the sun.

Johor had given traders and consumers a one-year period from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2018, to switch to biodegradable products instead of plastic bags and polystyrene food containers.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia school of education senior lecturer Dr Nina Diana Nawi said efforts to reduce single-use materials should be done “from top to bottom”, starting with the government.

However, enforcement without first ensuring the public understood the impact of these harmful materials would only work in the short term, she added.

“There needs to be increased awareness that it could take anywhere from 20 to 500 years for plastic to decompose, depending on its structure and environmental factors.

“According to a World Wide Fund for Nature study, we actually consume roughly a credit card’s size of plastic weekly due to plastics breaking down into tiny particles called microplastics. Imagine the effects it has on our bodies,” she said.

Nina Diana suggested taking small steps such as having reusable bags and containers ready in the car and handbags ready for shopping and takeaway needs as a way of “saying no” to single-use plastics and polystyrene.

She commended ongoing efforts by the Iskandar Puteri City Council which gave RM440,000 to fund 13 projects as part of its Low-Carbon Community Grants programme to encourage community involvement.

Nina Diana also said schools such as SJKC Foon Yew 2 and SK Taman Suria, which banned plastic use, had set an example for others.