The ‘no plastic bags’ practice, followed lately by the ‘no straws’ movements seem to have taken off well in our country, signifying the willingness of most Malaysians when it comes to making a difference in the environment, and consequently, their own wellbeing too.
Way before that, we already had thousands of families nationwide separating their wastes in the internationally practised Think Before You Throw campaign, which was still kind of new for us, for let’s face it, Malaysians haven’t been doing that all the while.
So, how far do you think we’ll go in this life-enhancing green living mission? By the looks of it, pretty far, we’d say.
Waste Separating
Here’s one area that no one saw coming among our locals, except maybe for those who have spent time overseas and have seen how families in some societies discipline themselves to use separate bins for glass, paper and plastic, etc from years ago. It’s not just about the separating though, because items like tin cans, for instance, and sauce bottles, drink cartons, etc, should be washed clean too, before being placed into their respective bins. In more ways than one, when you’ve gotten into the habit of doing this, you’ll soon find that these bins don’t need to be taken out every day, but rather, you can wait till they’re full before they go outside for our local garbage collector to carry away.
The Impact Of Food Waste
We have long been warned against the ramifications of rampant food wastages, which today is an epidemic that has widened the gap between the world’s rich and the poor.
Along with being a moral dilemma, throwing out that bruised but perfectly edible fruit or vegetable is also a direct affront to the planet and in many ways we’ll be contributing to pollution. When we clean out our fridge and decide to throw out a limp celery, when we could have just included it into a stir fry or soup, they end up decomposing in a landfill, releasing methane, a really harmful greenhouse gas.
In the first place, letting those veggies rot in the back of the fridge is a form of blatant disrespect for all the energy and resources used to grow them for consumers’ nourishment. In other words, food waste is also a waste of energy. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. If you’re wondering how much food is that, it is approximately 1.3 billion tons per year.
Learn The Differences Between These
- Best before: The last day of which the product will be at its best but not necessarily inedible.
- Sell-by: Is the last day the store should be displaying the product on its shelves.
- Use-by: This is the last day the manufacturer/producer recommends that you use the food item.
If you do not wish to be part of the problem, but suspect that you have been all this while, here are some changes you can make:
- Bargains are great, but you don’t need them all. Yes, your intention may be to save money, but those 50% off deals will only be worth it if you use them up in time.
- Some fruits, such as apples, and bananas, release gasses as they ripen, and if you store them in the fridge, these gasses tend to make other produce spoil more quickly. Firstly, refrain from purchasing more ripe fruits than you can eat in a day, and do store them separately.
- Arrange older food items to the front and put new foods at the back when stocking up your pantry of fridge.
- To prevent mold on fruits, wash them just before you eat/cut them.
- Freeze, preserve or can extra fruits and vegetables before they go bad. Remember though to use them in your smoothies, etc. On that same note, wilted or sad-looking produce that you know are still edible can be used in soups, stir fries and sauce – come on, you know better than to waste them by now.
- Don’t pile up your plate at every meal, especially if you tend to waste, or if you’re trying a new food. If you can still eat more, there’s no harm in going for seconds.
No Straws – A Big Move In Our Green Campaign
Restaurants around the world have been practicing a No Straw policy for a while now, and in the beginning of August last year, giant fast food company McDonald’s Malaysia joined in this bold move to help reduce plastic waste.
Although a straw seems minuscule in the world of plastic, it is said that one straw can take up to 200 years to decompose. Multiply that by the amount that Malaysians use daily and the number is no longer as small as we think. The horrific impact of these straws on our planet became obvious when an unfortunate incident involving a sea turtle was highlighted in 2015. The poor creature was found with a plastic straw stuck up its nostrils!
Sad fact: Did you know that Malaysians use about 13 million plastic straws daily?
Ditch The Plastics Bags, Bring Your Own Shopping Bag
Not many know this but the No Plastic Bag Campaign actually took off way back in 2007, but it was far from smooth sailing in terms of regulation, implementation and observation – the campaign was riddled with issues from the start. There was inefficiency in the campaign to change consumer behaviour, conflicts on what the alternatives should be and also the flak that followed after a tax of 20 sen for a plastic bag was charged to consumers. In Malaysia, the plastic bag charges are not compulsory, nor was it a government tax. Consumer either pay for plastic bags or bring their own grocery bag. A look around today shows that more and more consumers are taking to bringing their own grocery bags when shopping in supermarkets, indicating that at at long last, we’re actually getting somewhere.
However though, till today, plastic bags, together with other non-biodegradable items such as disposable plastic tableware and polystyrene foam, and a variety of plastic food packaging can still be purchased from supermarkets and retail stores. This defeats the purpose of banning free plastic bags and the sale of food in polystyrene packaging, for consumers can still purchase these items off store shelves, at very low prices too.
