Public urges “No Plastic Bags Everyday” campaign

 

‘No Plastic Bag on Monday Campaign’ was launched in June 2010 with the aim to reduce plastic bag usage in the city. Not long after that, it has been extended to three days a week, including Saturdays and Sundays.

The campaign had attracted many participants and a total of RM267,090.86 has been collected by the Kota Kinabalu City Hall through the sale of plastic bags to shoppers since its ‘No Plastic Bag on Monday Campaign’ was launched.

According to the City Mayor, Datuk Abidin Madingkir, the money was given to the Environmental Action Centre (EAC) to carry out its environmental programmes.

Recently, the “3R Programme: Zero Waste for a Greener Environment” was launched and Abidin said the campaign was well received by consumers. There were also proposals from the public to extend the campaign from the present three days a week to a daily basis.

Abidin has encouraged shoppers to bring their own bio-degradable plastic bags, which not only save cost but also contribute to environmental conservation by reducing pollution.

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Mayor: Factories and work sites must be kept neat and tidy too

Photo: Insight Sabah

In his bid to make Kota Kinabalu City cleaner, Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir urged those involved in the industrial sector including developers, manufacturers and suppliers to work together with the City Hall to keep their compound and premises neat and tidy.

Abidin, who spoke at the launching of the International Property Expo (IPEX) 2013 at the Sabah Trade Centre on Thursday, said that this can be achieved through a sense of commitment, strict supervision, education, discipline and organisation by all.

According to Abidin, he was informed at the recent International Design Conference in Sabah that proper waste management in the industrial sector and especially on construction sites can effectively reduce on-site construction waste by 70 percent.

Abidin said he was heartened to see that the anti-litter campaign organised by the City Hall has begun to bear fruit as more and more people are responding well to it.

"The corporate sector, the tourism sector, as well as schools now appear to be making a real effort to keep their grounds litter-free," he said.

Abidin said that the City Hall has worked relentlessly towards making the city and surrounding areas cleaner and has similarly introduced a proper waste management programme for villagers  living on the nearby islands and along the city's coastal areas.

"We at City Hall hope that through our efforts, we can influence the thinking of  the public, thereby cultivating the habit of  cleanliness," he said. 

Source: Insight Sabah

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Malaysia's First "Green" Taxi Stand in Kota Kinabalu!

An artist's impression of the green taxi stand at Kg. Air. Photo: Daily Express

The first "green" taxi stand in Malaysia would be built in Kota Kinabalu soon. The proposal to upgrade and renovate the existing taxi stand at Jalan Pantai in Kampung Air was disclosed to Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir by Kota Kinabalu Teo Chew Association (KKTCA) President, Sr. Chua Soon Ping. The project is the brainchild of a local architect, Ar. Sim Sie Hong of Innotech Design Architects Sdn Bhd, who proposed to rebuild the existing taxi stand using "renewable and green" building materials. Chua said the project is initiated and partly sponsored by the KKTCA together with several other companies as part of their corporate social responsibility for the city. The project is expected to be completed in three months' time, probably in June 2013.

The first ever "green" taxi stand in Malaysia will feature among others:-

   a. use of green building materials,
   b. powered 100% by solar,
   c. energy saving LED lightings,
   d. energy saving ceiling fans,
   e. free power socket for phone charging


Hopefully there will be more "green" taxi and bus stands to be built in the city centre whilst more corporations and private firms will come forward  and contribute to life-enhancing ideas such as this one.

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Sabah set to become champion of marine tourism in Malaysia

Sabah set to boost Marine Tourism

KOTA KINABALU: Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit yesterday expressed confidence that Sabah would emerge as the champion of Marine Tourism in the country soon.

He said this was evident from the increasing number of tourist arrivals in the state where, last year alone, a total of 2.88 million tourist came to visit Sabah, a marked increase of 1.1 per cent from year 2011 (2.84 million tourist).

He said last year’s state tourism calendar showed 18 cruise ships with 12,707 passengers had come to Kota Kinabalu Port.

“Also, we have 131 international flights with 19,294 seats and 660 domestic flights with 85,976 seats a week having landed at Sabah airports.

“That is good for tourism sector in Sabah. Sabah must be proud to have a beautiful beach, high mountain, amazing world class islands, various ethnic groups, food and culture.

“These make Sabah a unique state compared to the other states in Malaysia,” he said in his speech in conjunction with 13th City Day Anniversary Celebration at Jesselton Point, near here.

Also present was the Mayor of Kota Kinabalu City, Datuk Abidin Madingkir.

Dawos said Kota Kinabalu, with a suitable location and geography, had good opportunity to be one of the stop-over destinations for Cruise ships in Asia.

“Tourists love our numerous towns by the seaside. Of all the places I went to, Kota Kinabalu is one of the best and fantastic cities to enjoy the scenic sunset,” he said.

“With the natural silhouette of beautiful islands in the background, we are here today at Jesselton Point (one of the popular leisure spots among the locals) to witness how such a wonderful event like KK City Day Sunset Sea Parade can be done here with Kota Kinabalu’s stunning view of the beautiful South China Sea,” he said.

In this respect, Dawos underlined the need for the people, particularly city dwellers, to play their part in keeping Kota Kinabalu City clean and free from rubbish.

 

Source: Bernama

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Energy-saving bulbs to be installed in some KK areas

Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs (example)

City Hall has identified some areas in the city to be lit by energy saving bulbs as an alternative to help save on utility bills this year.

Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir said City Hall would gradually start the installation of such bulbs like Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs in a pilot project, to determine its viability. From January-October 2012, initial results of a pilot project in the peninsula with LED bulbs used in 12 government buildings in Putrajaya showed average savings of 10.3 per cent or RM3.5million. Through this measure, it could help the Government save up to RM800 million from the RM2.7 billion it spends annually. However, according to Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister, Datuk Seri Peter Chin, the cost of implementing the plan is costly. Madingkir also added that City Hall plans to have multi storey car parks in order to overcome the city's parking space problems. He urged the private sector to come forward and collaborate with City Hall. Currently, the City Hall is in discussion with some parties to construct the multi storey car parks however its execution will not begin this year.

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New strategy to reduce KK rat population

Kota Kinabalu: City Hall is looking into a new strategy to reduce the rat population in the city.

"We are re-examining and re-thinking our previous and current strategies," said Mayor Abidin Madingkir who officiated at City Hall's first in-house training on rat control for its staff here, Wednesday.

According to him, the programme is a continuation of a rat control programme, which was launched by City Hall in June last year, as well as a list of other programmes.

Madingkir who said the programme is aimed at their office based staff also pointed on the fact that rats roam the whole universe.

"They can be found everywhere even as far as Europe and in big cities such as London.

Exterminating them from the face of the earth is not possible, but we can work towards reducing their population."

He added that due to their unhygienic nature, rats are known to cause a lot of health problems as well as household problems, among them being electrical wire damage.

"It seems like people are so used to seeing them here and are so used to them that they are not even bothered by their presence," he added.

The training is therefore vital in order to spread awareness and educate City Hall staff.

Madingkir said it is like nurturing a seed and watering it everyday until it grows into a plant.

"Methods used to control them do not depend only on the extermination of their habitat alone, but also in providing a clean environment in general. Apart from that, improper food storage and keeping leftover food encourages them to breed."

"Problems related to these rodents which are notorious in offices have led us to conduct this special training.

"The programme is conducted to give proper awareness on rat control in the workplace environment.

"Before this, the target was entrepreneurs especially those involved with food around the city."

He also highlighted the fact that the responsibility of rat control must not be carried by City Hall's vector control unit alone but should be taken seriously by all City Hall staff.

Some 40 participants were present including invited guest Amir Paduan D. Daniel from Labuan Corporation's Town Service Department.

City Hall's Head of Public Health Danny Kok said the rat menace in offices is caused by food thrown inside uncollected rubbish bins.

Source: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=81295

Green Sabah says: Rats are still well-known carriers of over 70 diseases. From the transmission of bubonic plague to typhus and Hantavirus, rat infestations can prove harmful to human health.  One of the most dangerous rat-borne diseases is the bubonic plague and its variants. Transfer occurs when infested rats or rat fleas bite human beings. Symptoms include headache, weakness and coughing. Septicemic plague may result in bleeding into the skin and other organs. This fatal disease often kills within the same day that symptoms first appear.

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Care for the nature

A campaign to create environmental awareness is gaining momentum although some consumers appeared not too keen on doing their bit.

Several ventures to help create a healthier environment and ensure its sustainability have met with some encouraging results.

The Malaysian government is hoping to ensure greater success in keeping the landscape not only intact but also enhanced.

For starters, Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) has planted exactly 1,000 trees under the country’s first ever environmental programme for business tourism.

The campaign, aptly named “Let’s Meet & Green”, was launched by MyCEB in November 2011 in support of the government’s commitment to offset carbon emissions by 40% by 2020.

This programme was launched in line with the Tourism Ministry’s “1Malaysia Green, 1Malaysia Clean” campaign. Under this programme, participants contribute a minimum of RM31.

The contributions will be channelled to the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) for its tree-planting activity. This is part of an overall strategy being formulated by the government to ensure that there is a steady decline in the amount of carbon emissions until 2020.

The 1,000 trees planted came from the contributions of the 18th World Congress of Accountants 2010 (600 trees), Institute of Internal Auditors Association International Conference 2011 (250), Malaysia Meetings Innovation Day 2011 (100) and MyCEB’s internal staff (50).

Early this year, 25 MyCEB’s employees, accompained by FRIM representatives, gathered at FRIM in Kuala Lumpur for a tree-planting activity and the installation of a plaque. The event is among a number of activities lined up by MyCEB for this year to plant more trees around the country.

MyCEB CEO Zulkefli Sharif said that by participating in this campaign, planners and event organisers can leave a lasting environmental legacy in Malaysia by preserving, conserving and protecting nature.

Zulkefli hopes to plant thousands more trees in the future as part of efforts to educate business partners about this campaign.

Reducing plastic bags

However, in Sabah, a green campaign launched last year to reduce the use of plastic bags has fallen short of its target.

Kota Kinabalu City Hall had launched the “No Plastic Bag” campaign with the noble intention of protecting the environment, convincing 225 outlets to join in to raise public awareness in cutting down the use of plastic bags.

Under the campaign, customers were encouraged to bring their own shopping bags, and would be charged 20 sen by participating outlets, for each plastic bag used on a Monday. Later, it was extended to include Saturdays and Sundays.

However, Kota Kinabalu residents were not too keen on curtailing the use of plastic bags judging from the high number of the bags purchased, said Mayor Abidin Madingkir.

Abidin added that this showed environmental awareness is very low in the city and he appealed to all residents to participate vigorously in the campaign.

As adviser to the KK Environmental Action Centre, Abidin said KK City Hall would strive to persuade business operators to join in the campaign including night market hawkers.

KK City Hall hoped to meet the participating outlets to discuss problems faced by them in implementing the campaign, including dealing with customers who were upset at having to pay for the plastic bags.

Change for the better

Back to the Peninsula, students of SMK Bandar Sunway Special Class Alumnus were overjoyed to paint green-themed murals in their classrooms using paint sponsored from a paint company, Mr Paint Man Sdn Bhd. The students were doing their bit for the environment.

The students painted eight classrooms in striking colours such as Bloo Blue, Dino Rex, Stitch, Pink Panther and Sweet Lilo.

This initiative was organised in conjunction with the official launch of the “Paint a Greener Future for Our World” campaign by Mr Paint Man.

Under this programme, Mr Paint Man will continue to collaborate with various schools to provide them with a sustainable, healthy and hygienic environment.

These initiatives are a good start on educating and creating awareness of the environment. But more Malaysians should make it a point to learn and participate in these programmes.

Only then will these initiatives bear fruit. Only then will there be a change for the better in the environment and Malaysians can look forward to an enhanced quality of life.

Christopher Fernandez has been teaching and writing throughout Asia since 1984.

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/03/27/a-good-start-to-care-for-nature/

Green Sabah says: It is quite disappointing to find that awareness campaign about the use of plastic bags has not received encouraging response from the community. Authorities and NGOs must do more to bring awareness to the public. Emphasis on the importance of protecting the environment should be taught from the school. Early exposure could bring awareness to the younger generation. We are able to change it.

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Over RM200,000 collected from No Plastic Bag Campaign

KOTA KINABALU: More than RM200,000 was collected from the fees charged on plastic bags at various outlets in the city from June 2010 until December 2012.

The actual figure of RM206,774.01 was accumulated from 225 outlets that participated in the campaign to reduce the use of plastic bags.

Participants consisted of 26 supermarkets, a clinic, nine schools, two institutions of higher learning, 50 pharmacies and seven associations.

Charges collected by the Environmental Action Centre (EAC) from June to December 2010 was RM43,690.05 and from January to December last year, it was RM163,083.95.
KFC Sabah recorded the highest amount collected with a total of RM100,532.60, said Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir.

He was speaking at a press conference on the campaign to reduce the use of plastic bags at the City Hall premises here yesterday.

Also present were the City Hall director general, who is also the Kota Kinabalu EAC chairman, Datuk Yeo Boon Hai, City Hall director of health and services, Robert Lipon, KFC Sabah operations manager, Godfrey Binting, Sabah EAC coordinator, Anzella Juwilin, as well as representatives of the participating supermarkets.
At the event, KFC Sabah also presented a cheque, for the amount they collected, to the Sabah EAC.

Abidin said, although a lot of money was collected from the campaign, it was not something they could be proud of because it showed that the campaign still did not get the full participation of the community.

“We will carry on with the campaign and urge more outlets to take part. The objective of the campaign is to reduce the use of plastic bags and to get people to become more environmentally aware,” he added.

The campaign was officially launched on 7 June 2010 by the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Masidi Manjun at the Sunny Supermarket in Tanjung Aru. Initially, it was enforced only on Mondays with the slogan “Bring Your Own Bag”. Customers would be charged 20 sen for each plastic bag they requested at participating outlets. The money is then given to the Sabah EAC for environmental programmes.

However, on 1 January 2011, the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operative and Consumerism launched a similar campaign to take effect every Saturday nationwide.

City Hall then decided to enforce the “Bring Your Own Bag” theme on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays to fill the gap between Saturday and Monday.

Meanwhile, Abidin said that the meeting with the supermarkets was meant to iron out any problems the outlets might have had during the campaign.

“Apparently, some customers became angry when they were charged 20 sen for the plastic bags and it impacted badly on business because they lost customers on those days that the campaign was enforced.

There were also complaints about the payment counters being narrow and late collections,” said the Mayor.
The City Hall intends to further promote the campaign and the Sabah EAC has promised to make collections on time.

“I sincerely hope that people in Kota Kinabalu will continue to support this campaign for the sake of our environment. I also thank all those who took part and supported the campaign,” said Abidin.

Source: http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/55492

Green Sabah says: The No Plastic Bags Campaign is a good move to encourage the locals to reduce the use of plastic bags while shopping. Plastic bags are one of the contributors for massive landfills world wide, if we do not start controlling the use of these plastic bags, it is possible that our grand children's generation will be forced to live in landfills. I have noticed more people are carrying green bags while shopping nowadays, I've even seen some who brought their own Tupperware to restaurants for takeaways, which is a better alternative for their health and reduce the use of polystyrene. Hopefully more people will participate in this campaign.

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RM38m Tg Aru to UMS walk and cycle path soon

Kota Kinabalu: A RM38 million pedestrian cum cycle path stretching 23.5km from Tanjung Aru to Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) will be constructed soon as part of the City's Environment Project.


He said this during the flag-raising ceremony in conjunction with the 12th anniversary of Kota Kinabalu's city status at Padang Merdeka, Thursday, which also marked his first year as Mayor.

"Tenders for the project will be called this April.

Construction will begin by middle of this year," said Madingkir.

The project will be divided into four parcels with Parcel One being a 5.2km long cycle-way from Sabah Port to Likas Bay.

The Parcel One, which will take about 12 months to complete, will include a bicycle shared path, bridge, covered bicycle parking, lighting and signages, children playground, benches, rubbish bin, transit seating and bicycle rack.

Parcel Two will entail a 12.6km route stretching from Tanjung Aru to Sembulan and Parcel Three, a 4.5km route within the city's Central Business District.

Upon completion, Parcel Three will also have amenities such as public toilet, shower, lockers and barriers.
And Parcel Four will be a 3km route ending at Tun Mustapha Building or UMS.

Among other projects lined up for this year, he said, are the Sembulan River Park Phase Two and Three construction and that this will include cleaning works on the river.

The construction of a bus terminal at Jalan Kepayan will also begin, among other upgrades, to the City Bus service.

Madingkir said works on clearing and cleaning the city gutters had already begun in January to avoid flash floods.

He said City Hall's 5K Programme, which has been conducted in pilot township, Menggatal, will also be extended to other townships.

The programme is aimed at developing townships with five core objectives, namely, cleanliness, beautification, safety, orderliness and wellbeing.

Madingkir said campaigns such as the Anti-Litter and the Reduce Plastic Bags will also be continued consistently.

"Even if we can't ban plastic at the moment, we urge everyone to keep Saturday, Sunday and Monday to reduce the use of plastic bags.

"Even so, the public could still purchase the bags for 20 sen each," he said, adding the public could bring their own bags to do shopping on the said days.

And, he said, City Hall is also considering to adopt the public's requests, to permanently ban plastic for the said three days.

Madingkir, who has also been Mayor for a year now, said City Hall's goals are based on the National Transformation Agenda, Government Transformation Programme (GTP), National Key Economic Area (NKEA), Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and the Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011-2015).

He said these have been used by City Hall as a guideline to provide the city's half a million population the best service and to further boost the City Hall Strategic Plan 2011-2015.

"In the short period of 2011, City Hall has succeeded in rolling out programmes such as the 5K programme in Menggatal.

"Beautification of main roads, along Jalan Lintas, Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Telipok township area, Jalan Kolam flyover flat area and area close to the State Mosque near Jalan Sembulan," Madingkir said, adding that the programme will be continued in the years to come.

He said 2011 also saw upgrades and beautification done on all roundabouts in the city, first phase of Sembulan River Park being constructed and lay-by for taxis and buses.

"City Hall is always faced with high expectations from the public and taxpayers for their services.
"This year we will continue focusing on the Strategic Plan. And we will also intensify actions in rolling out programmes in the plan," he said.

He said City Hall is spending around RM95,000 to maintain the city's cleanliness every month and the figure adds up to RM19 million a year when it comes to solid waste management.

He also expressed concern that vandalism is becoming more rampant of late and viewed it seriously.
"Manhole and drain covers and concrete slabs are sometimes gone.

Let's just use communal bins, City Hall needs to spend about RM1,800 every time a bin is replaced.
"In a month, about 20 communal bins are being vandalised," he said.

Among present at the flag raising ceremony was visiting Korean Mayor from Yongin City, Kim Hak Kyu, City branch Puspanita Chairwoman, Datin Florence Malangkig, City Hall Director-General, Datuk Yeo Boon Hai, City Hall Board of Advisors and a delegation from Yongin City.

The event earlier saw a parade by participating contingents from City Hall's Enforcement, Service and Health, Corporate Affairs, Engineering, Financial, City Planning, Human Resource, Law, Evaluation and other departments.

It included institutes of higher learning, secondary and primary schools, private sector, school clubs and associations.

There were also cultural performances presented to the VIPS and a prize giving ceremony to the winning marching contingents, namely, SK Sri Gaya, SMK Perempuan Likas and City Hall's Health and City Service Department.

Source: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=80540

Green Sabah says: The anti-litter and reduce plastic bags campaign should be better promoted in the states so that more people will be able to take part in it. Currently the 'No plastic bags on Saturday, Sundays and Mondays' seemed to be doing quite well and I've noticed more people carrying recycle bags while shopping these days. 

As for the vandalism of public facilities such as communal bins, man hole covers and others are an despicable act that reflected the uncivilized mentality of the vandals. Not only does vandalism cost the taxpayers and government money and effort to replace the damaged items, it is also dangerous in some ways.

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Cleanliness is a Shared Responsibility

Conveying the message at a gotong-royong to clean up the beach,  Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir said a lot of public complaints on the unsatisfactory cleanliness level at Anjung Perdana, especially the smelly drains has been made to the City Hall.

Abidin stressed that maintaining the cleanliness at Tanjung Aru is very crucial because this place is popular for the locals and tourist from abroad.

Eatery operators as well as fruit hawkers at the Tanjung Aru Beach here were reminded to practice proper garbage disposal, instead of dumping them indiscriminately into the drains or on the beach in order to keep the place clean always.

It was part of the Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) “5-Ks Program” to salvage the rapidly deteriorating image of Tanjung Aru Beach as a “must visit place” for both the local residents and visitors.

The 5-Ks refer to “Kebersihan” (Cleanliness), “Keindahan” (Beauty), “Keselamatan” (Security), “Keteraturan” (Orderliness) and “Kesejahteraan” (Peace).

Abidin also advised members of the public to do not litter the place indiscriminately. 

"It is devastating to see the beach was still littered with garbage like foods and drinks containers, cigarette butts even though provision of sufficient garbage bins," he said.

Therefore, he reminded that the maintenance of cleanliness of the place is not solely a responsibility of the DBKK, but a shared responsibility among the residents of Kota Kinabalu City.

While elaborating on the idea and objectives of the 5-Ks Concept, he noted that the gotong-royong exercise was a beginning for the various follow-up actions and strategies that had been identified to enable the Tanjung Aru Beach to achieve the 5-Ks status.

Among the follow-up actions that had been identified are:
1. Improvement of the cleanliness level of the beach;

 
2. Upgrading of the landscaping through planting of more trees;

 
3. Improvement of the security aspect by improving the public-safety features such as the lighting facilities, and to conduct regular security patrols;

 
4. To improve the orderliness of the place especially the hawkers stalls and eateries; and

 
5. All other actions which required the cooperation and involvement of all quarters.

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