Environmental protection in Malaysia

Yes definitely i want a clear road and sky while i cruise in my 4L SUV, drive for an hour in circles to avoid a 3 rm parking fee and live in a country that rains all the time but has water shortages. Cough cough the pollution went to my brain!

Malaysia has a terrible environmental record. Makes usa look good! Locally i can recycle paper but i reckon they just dump it anyway. Apart from that aint much

While there is a small percentage of environmentally conscious people in Malaysia, unfortunately the subject is as bad as it can be for a country with the financial capability that Malaysia has.
Recycling is done by few people, and even in buildings that practice separation, like mine, it all goes into the common pile later and doesn't make any difference.
It is normal to see non-biodegradable garbage lying everywhere, especially in places of some natural beauty, such as beaches or forests.
Furthermore, waste is something most people are proud of. They look down on efficiency, responsibility, and consciousness. It's a wealthy country with a third world mindset. Basically, if you are rich, you can do whatever you want. And the more wasteful what you do, the better.
Sad but true, for the most part

I agree with Euka.

I was reading that enough trash is generated to fill the twin towers every nine days.

I never met anyone interested in reducing waste or recycling. Well maybe once.

People have no mind or interest in anything about trash or pollution, in fact they seem to love trash. And what Chinese has stopped the cultural burnings to save the planet?

And what government person cares about putting anti-pollution devices on cars?

Then there are people who just pretend because its trendy to act socially responsible. Here is a good one for you.  A few years ago I really got into it with the daughter of a well-known real estate devleoper over being a phony. She elected herself the green queen of Malaysia and kicked it off by writing a book about green. Ok, why chop down trees for a book? If you are green why wasnt it an e-book? Then she likes holding green meetings and filling up Putra World Trade Center. Oh yeah? If you are green, why didnt you hold the meeting by webinar so that so many people woudnt have to drive and pollute the air by car? PHONY. So I said ok, youre a phony but i'll give you a real idea that the country can do right now that is low cost to implement and can bring exponential results. She totally avoided the discussion. I ignored her emails after that.

Then there are the true fakes. A well-known market-mall was collecting batteries and the new and very toxic light bulbs. GREAT! But then they abruptly stopped. I asked them why. They said, "oh its a mess to collect and we have no place to put them." Huh? I thought you were recycling the poisons and glass and plastics. They werent. All that time of collection they were just throwing it all in the trash. Unbelievable.

And then there is acid rain caused by open pollution by factories as well as open dumping of toxic chemicals into drains and rivers. In Penang there are strict laws about this but despite myriad reports by citizens, the govt/police say, "well, WE didnt see it happening so we cant trust your word about what you saw or filmed. Case closed." Thats blatant corruption.

There is no political will to fight trash or pollution, yet Malaysia wants Warasan 20/20 without actually becoming a developed nation. If govt doesnt care, people wont either. And they dont.

I recycle everything i can into new uses, even a scraps of paper can become a lampshade or shopping list; even old pillows can be stripped of the foam and used for packing material or new furniture; the largest plastic bags get stacked up and i give them to the POS so they can give to customers who need to cart away large items. Plastic bottles become pots for flowers. I made a dining table by cutting up unneeded cardboard boxes. When you glue the layers together they become very strong, just like wood. I find junk right on the road and take for a re-use I can do right now.  I let nothing go by if there is any possible re-use of it. Also, I refuse to buy any product that is overly packaged. If I am forced to, I get the item out and send the entire package back to the factory with a letter.

As far as i can see, green initiatives gain no traction in the country but make some minister or company feel good for a moment. Its all hocus-pocus disrespectable nonsense.

Its 12am and my hands hurt or else id give you another 2000 words on the evil and sinister game of "banning plastic bags," the biggest commercial hoax that ever was around here. Goodnite.

I am the Australian co-founder of  Indochine Natural Sdn Bhd ** located in Penang, and we started an initiative some years ago to develop a  method of saponifying recycled cooking oils into a general household cleaning liquid. Once we had perfected the method and designed the equipment, we then trained a local group of rural based intellectually disabled to produce the liquid cleaner for us. This provides the group with some income and assists in their economic independence. The liquid general household cleaning liquid under the Indochine Natural label is retailed in Malaysia through the JusLife chain of organic stores, and is available on our website. We also export to Singapore and other countries.

Adding to this initiative, we are also recycling the organic cooking oils produced from the Real Food organic vegetarian restaurants in Penang and KL, producing cleaning liquids that are used for cleaning in these restaurants and also as a retail cleaning liquid available to their customers.

In summary then, we have introduced an environmentally safe 100% biodegradable  household cleaning product, a recycling initiative, and income  stream for a marginalised community in Malaysia.


Dr. Mike Thair
Managing Director

Indochine Natural Sdn. Bhd. (829547-V)

PakMike,

But see? Again its the foreigners with any interest in this, never the locals unless there is a path to BIG BUCKS FAST, BIG CELEBRITY FAST. And even then they feel their hands are dirty dealing with the UNGLAMOUROUS work of trash in any form.

SHAME ON THEM, FRANKLY.

Can't agree with you entirely CVCO, we are not operating in a vacuum here in Penang and rely on customers who realise the value of environmentally friendly products, and our dedicated local production team who are "believers" (we refuse to employ overseas workers).  As a foreigner, I can choose any country in which to operate (I have lived/worked in 22 countries globally), but we chose Penang, and a big plus is the very enabling business & investment environment supported by the Malaysian Government.

OK, it is not perfect, we have our challenges, but there is a strong groundswell in Malaysia for environmental concerns, and people are becoming more supportive. Check out the organic farmers market this Sunday afternoon (late) in Penang at Straits Quay.

Dr. Mike Thair
Managing Director

Indochine Natural Sdn. Bhd.

cvco wrote:

PakMike,

But see? Again its the foreigners with any interest in this, never the locals unless there is a path to BIG BUCKS FAST, BIG CELEBRITY FAST. And even then they feel their hands are dirty dealing with the UNGLAMOUROUS work of trash in any form.

SHAME ON THEM, FRANKLY.

To a certain extent you are correct, but if you go to many condos in KL you can find recycling bins. If the recycling companies do not request to place them in your condo then very often the JMB or MC will propose it to the recycling companies. I served on the MC's of several condos and the suggestion of having recycling bins on the premises usually originated from local Malaysians.

But aside from recycling bins in condos, I have never seen much interest from the locals about the environment. And with rising prices, GST, and unaffordable property prices, I am sure they have a lot more to worry about than protecting the environment.

There are very few people on the planet who have any interest in their effect on it but I do see it change when local governments mandate interest under financial penalty. Then they suddenly care!

In Sri Damansara there is an extremely active recycling group which meets once a month to fill several lorries with all manner of materials. There are about 75 in the group and they work like dogs, rain or shine. I asked why. Money for some Taoist cause or church or other. It wasnt clear. Period. Money. I asked if they would do it free. They looked at me like I was an infiltrator or foreign political provocateur or something who they needed to turn into the police and I dropped the matter.

I frequent a certain wet market for breakfast where they also have tons of organic vegetables for sale. I asked why. They say its more profit than normal vegetables. I asked my regular veg shop why he doesnt sell organic. He said, "you see all those sellers? Its all totally fake. 'Organic' doesnt go past the label." Really?

I have two solid ideas to make change, one produces income, the other doesnt but doesnt produce any cost impact. But aside from that I just make the smallest footprint I can and let it go at that.

I met an un official in putra jaya that purposes to promote sustainability in malaysia which includes putting the resources and related industry as far as possible in the hands of local people but as usual there was as always a resurge of power taken away from the local people by scrupulous international big companies for to take advantage of the opportunity of reaping greater profits for themselves without passing those profits down to the locals after the intial measures of sustainability were applied which had to be counteracted by his team...he is famous also for work on the red panda as well...i just cannot now recall without straining for a while what that industry was...