Recycling must be stepped up

THE Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) has noted that while our national recycling rate has improved to 37.9% in 2024 from 35.38% in 2023, a significant amount of our recyclable materials still end up in landfills. Disappointingly, e-waste, plastics, paper and metals continue to be dumped in landfills. Put simply, proper waste disposal remains a major problem for us.

In terms of general waste management, organisations and households must be ever mindful of the 3Rs – reduce, reuse and recycle. For households, striving for zero waste also applies to food.

On its part, the government needs to promote better consumer waste management behaviour. As noted by the American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead, “We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment.”

SZE LOONG STEVE NGEOW

Kajang