A COMMUNITY clean-up programme in Kampung Sri Aman, Semporna, saw more than 800kg of rubbish removed from the village and its surrounding waters.
Nestled among stilt houses in the water village, residents have been part of a pilot project implemented by Reef Check Malaysia together with the Kampung Sri Aman Village Committee since March to improve waste management in the area.
During the July 4 clean-up, 53 community members, including men, women and children, took part in a gotong-royong and collected 476.5kg of waste from public areas within the village.
Reef Check Malaysia senior programme manager Adzmin Fatta said the rubbish collected consisted mainly of plastic packaging and plastic bottles.
Recognising that marine debris extends beyond the shoreline, the team also collaborated with recycling company AMWIL, which supported the programme by deploying boats to collect floating waste from surrounding waters, he said.
The collaboration resulted in the removal of 350.8kg of floating debris, primarily discarded cloth, rubber mats and other bulky materials.
“In total, 827.3kg of waste was removed from both the village and surrounding coastal waters in a single day,” said Adzmin.
He said while the clean-up provided immediate environmental benefits, it also highlighted the growing effectiveness of the village’s community-based waste management system, which has steadily evolved over the past four months.
“The pilot programme has expanded from 50 participating households to all 100 households in Kampung Sri Aman, establishing one of the first structured community-led waste management systems in Semporna.
“Households now separate waste into designated categories before delivering it to a central collection point every Monday and Friday, where waste is weighed, recorded and transported for proper disposal,” Adzmin said.
He said continuous house-to-house monitoring and a simple household scoring system had also been introduced to encourage better waste segregation and strengthen long-term behavioural change.
The programme has already recorded encouraging results.
As of June 22, participating households had collectively diverted 3,974.52kg of waste through the community collection system, with plastics accounting for the largest proportion of recovered materials.
To further strengthen the initiative, residents also worked together to build a community-managed Waste Collection House, providing a dedicated facility for storing recyclable materials and coordinating waste collection activities, Adzmin said.
“More than just infrastructure, the facility represents the community’s long-term commitment to managing waste collectively and systematically,” he said.
The clean-up programme also received a visit from Senallang Community Development Leader Roslan Mohd Padlan, who commended the community’s efforts and expressed his support for the initiative.
Building on the momentum, village head Hassan Gabra Haji Hajan announced that the community intends to organise the gotong-royong monthly, complementing the existing waste collection system and encouraging greater participation in maintaining a cleaner and healthier village.
“Waste management is not simply about collecting rubbish; it is about building community ownership, changing behaviour and creating systems by which local people can sustain themselves.
“Kampung Sri Aman is demonstrating that when communities are empowered with the right support and leadership, they can become the driving force behind solving long-standing issues such as waste management,” he said.
The Pilot Community-Based Waste Management System serves as a model of how partnerships between communities, local authorities, government agencies and the private sector can reduce waste leakage into the ocean while strengthening local stewardship.
Reef Check Malaysia hopes lessons from Kampung Sri Aman can inspire similar community-led waste management initiatives across coastal water villages in Semporna and other coastal communities in Sabah.
The initiative is funded by Etika Sdn Bhd and supported by the Semporna District Council, Semporna District Office and the Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry.
