"I'm almost giving up on trying my hand at recycling! All my efforts in sorting out my household trash only gives me migraine because at the end of the day, the separate trash bags are dumped together into the truck.

"What is the point then of having a recycling campaign," exclaimed a zesty 34-year-old homemaker from Kajang, where she and her family have lived for almost 10 years.

Fiona Lee, who has a five-year-old daughter, said she was willing to take the government up on its multi-million ringgit recycling campaign launched three years ago, but ended up a frustrated ratepayer every time.

"I've tried many things but each time I failed. The people who are supposed to be the important links in the recycling network are not getting the point of it at all."

Lee's daughter is slowly but surely picking up the intricacies of recycling and why everyone should do it, thanks to her hardcore mother. Her foreman father Ken Ng, 35, fully supports the family 'hobby'.

Storing recyclable items

Lee said early this year, she began storing every recyclable item in her household.

"Almost all plastic containers, bottles, tupperwares, cups and mugs, cans, sheets and bags have the green triangular-arrow recycling symbol on their bottom for easy reference. So, there is no reason not to recycle them, especially when we know these are recyclables."

She stores plastic bottles of all shapes and sizes containing shampoo, various detergents, cooking oil, ketchup, cough syrup and lots more.

She also keeps aside milk and biscuit tins, aluminium cans, every scrap of paper, plastic strings and other discarded material to recycle.

"Even keep my daughter's kindergarten notebook, once it is used up, is stored with old newspapers," she says, waving around several receipts she keeps bundled together.

Lee is also a person who takes her zest for recycling a step further - she washes, cleans and dries all the used items before tying up or packing them neatly.

No wonder she is frustrated that all her hard work are wasted by a serious lack of proper policy implementation from top right down to the ground.

She claims a lack of awareness on the duties and responsibilities of garbage collection companies is the main problem. Garbage collection and disposal services, previously under the purview of local authorities, have been contracted out to smaller private companies pending privatisation.

"It seems to me that the workers who work with these companies are clueless about recycling or just plain 'malas' (lazy).

"I even tried persuading them to keep the different trash bags separately and eventually ended up arguing with them. I lost both times."

Educate the people

Relating an incident in March, Lee said she had once explained to the garbage truck driver about the separated trash and that it would be easier for him to recycle them accordingly.

"He simply dismissed my suggestion by saying that it was of no use because plastic items like shampoo bottles, cooking oil containers, medicine bottles and others were of no value.

"Instead, he advised me to focus on paper, aluminium cans/tins, cardboard boxes and scrap metal which could fetch a better sum. Then, he dumped all the separated bags of trash into the truck and drove off."

In another incident, Lee had taken a whole bunch of reusable plastic egg cartons back to the vendor and asked him to return them to the egg supplier for reuse as they were as good as new.

"But he told me that it was too much of a hassle to do all that and said I should just throw them all away."

She noted that such a situation has arised due to the gross neglect of the recycling concept by the government and related agencies.

"It (recycling) is totally lacking in infrastructure, especially the collection and disposal mechanism. On top of that, the government has failed to educate the people. A vast majority still have no idea what recycling is for or all about," she insists.

"People should be briefed on what to recycle, how to do it, the rationale behind it. The talks should then be followed up by placing recycling bins in the area.

"At the moment, it seems that no one understands the concept and I dare say that covers about 80 percent of Malaysians."

TV ads no use

Instead of spending millions on fancy and 'elitist' TV advertisements which are also too abstract, Lee feels that the money will be spent on regular talks in every housing estate through the respective residents associations, ketua kampung (village heads) and community groups.

"The TV ads are of no use. My daughter thought it was about magical bins and dancing, and she insisted that I send her for classes. I think the ads fail to convey any particular message and make no sense at all.

"I'm sure a majority of Malaysians also don't understand what the ads are all about. We're talking about the masses here, not the middle-class segment."

Proudly showing off her young daughter, Lee said her training started at a very young age, so much so that every time she wants to throw something now, she asks her mother first on whether the item is recyclable.

"In fact, she picks up stuff from outside the house if she sees them lying around on the roadside or asks me to do so."

Lee proposed that the government provide separate collectors for different recyclable items because "household items are a necessity and every house in the country use these items".

"Just imagine the volume of plastics out there. Within a month, I can collect a large amount of various items, and mine is only a small family of three.

"So do the maths for the bigger families who will definitely consume more of these items, and they're all being discarded together."

Incinerator not necessary

Noting the government's proposal for several huge incinerators in the country and new sites for smelly and dangerous landfills, Lee said that would no longer be necessary if people are made to understand the recycling concept.

"The sheer volume of recyclable items taken out of the trash that goes into landfills or incinerators in the future can be hugely reduced, but only with a proper collection system in place."

Lee's neighbour, Chen Moi Kooi (photo), 38, is worried over the state of garbage affairs in her area, compounded by news of the government's proposed incinerator in nearby Broga, at least 30 minutes away from Kajang.

"I hope the government will seriously implement the recycling programmes properly. I worry about the future of my five-year-old daughter. She is my only child and I dread to think of what could happen to her or my family."

Chen, a factory worker, believes that if everyone recycles, the government would have no problems managing the volume of solid waste.

Echoing Chen's sentiments, Lee said: "The government keeps complaining that people are not taking the initiative to recycle when people like me, my friends and neighbours are trying real hard to do it but are frustrated by the lack of initiative on the part of the government."

She said if people still refused to recycle despite a proper collection system, then the government should formulate laws to penalise them.

"At the same time, the government/industries must also stop or reduce the production of plastics to curb the public consumption," she said, vowing to try and recycle again for two more months.

Lee's seriousness about recycling goes further than most people. When she packs outside food for home, she brings along her own tupperware or container because she wants to avoid using the styrofoam containers almost all food vendors use these days.

"I'm worried about my child's future because I've heard about the proposed Broga incinerator. The thing won't be necessary if people can recycle most of their rubbish.

"Building it simply defeats the government's recycling campaign and all that money. I feel we are being hoodwinked into thinking that the plant is doing something good for us when it is not."

She said she'd rather teach for free the residents in her housing area how to recycle than see a project like the incinerator proceed.

Gov't must act

Lee's husband Ng said that when the garbage collection services were still handled by the local authorities, the workers used to separate the plastic bottles and newspapers on their own.

"Now, everything is dumped into the same truck, even if you separate them at home. It's useless to even try because no one, not even the government, seems bothered to put the proper recyclable collection network in place.

"And how long can people store their trash at home? They would quickly run out of space and get more frustrated that all their efforts are wasted due to the lackadaisical attitude of government agencies and garbage contractors.

"If there is a proper system, word of mouth alone is a powerful communication tool. We can tell our friends, neighbours, colleagues or anyone at all about the idea."

Ng said the government must take the necessary steps before the people can complement its efforts.



For more information on recycling, please visit this website.