KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s fight against plastic pollution took a step forward after a four-month Zero Waste Community Project at a village in Tuaran concluded, providing villagers with recycling skills and carrying out a massive community clean-up.
The project in Kampung Gerinsing, Mengkabong, about 40km from here, began in September 2025 as a grassroots experiment and has now become a model on how villagers can turn waste into resources.
Driven by the NGO Zero Waste Sabah with support from the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia on UN Sustainable Development Goals (APPGM-SDG), the project equipped residents with hands-on skills in waste segregation, composting and recycling.
Over four months, villagers attended workshops on zero waste practices, learned to make compost and fruit enzymes, as well as establish a community compost site to manage their organic waste.
“This pilot project proves that zero waste solutions, already successful in countries like the Philippines, India and Vietnam, are replicable in Sabah,” said Zero Waste Sabah’s founder Ruth Yap, during the closing of the project on Sunday.
She said the project also proves that community-driven zero-waste models can succeed where waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration falls short.
“The government must look beyond incineration and invest in community-based alternatives to address Malaysia’s escalating waste crisis,” Yap said.
She added that a waste audit was conducted involving 60 households, with rubbish categorised as 41% recyclables, 32% kitchen waste, 21% general waste, 5% special waste such as disposable nappies, sanitary pads and tissues, and 1% hazardous waste, including bulbs and electronics.
She said 30% of the villagers were committed to segregating waste and paying a monthly fee to sustain the programme while the waste collection system continued with scheduled pickups three times a week.
“We also help build local leaders to continue and sustain the efforts, as well as revive the abandoned storehouse for rubbish,” she added.
For the closing ceremony, a total of 80 participants, including Tuaran MP Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau, APPGM-SDG advisor Dr Jain Yassin, members from Trash Hero Kota Kinabalu and Tuaran, Universiti Malaysia Sabah Marine Science students and the Institute of Development Studies Sabah picked up 1,434.3kg of waste from mangrove areas in the village, with 10.8kg of recyclables collected.
