Liew (eighth left) and Yong (fifth left) with the Sabah Tshung Tsin Secondary School team, winner of the Institut Sinaran Inter school Environment Day Choral Speaking competition.
KOTA KINABALU: Institut Sinaran pledged to phase out plastic straws and polystyrene food packaging from its cafeteria in honor of the 2018 “Beat Plastic Polution” World Environment Day.
Institut Sinaran CEO Yong Pik Hua said plastic products were low cost and vast in its range but were detrimental towards the health of living beings and the environment.
She pointed out that 91% of the world plastic waste are not recycled and takes 500 to 1,000 years to degrade.
“The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has recognized vinyl chloride, the precursor to PVC, as human carcinogen (a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue),” said Yong at the Institut Sinaran Environment Day 2018 closing ceremony at the campus grounds here yesterday.
“The danger of plastic pollution should be incorporated in our school curriculum so that we can fight the plastic pollution more effectively. We at Institut Sinaran are also joining this fight.
“Today, I am delighted to announce that the institute’s cafeteria will eventually phase out the usage of plastic straws and the use polystyrene food packaging,” she added.
As part of its environmental efforts, Yong said 110 students and staff collected a whopping 125kg of rubbish while running the Institut Sinaran Environmental Run at Likas Bay on July 28.
Besides that, she said the institute organized a talk on the major detrimental impacts of the little plastic drinking straws on August 6 whilst 68 of its students and staff planted 158 forestry Urat Mata Beludu, Kapur Paji and Seraya Tembaga seedlings at the Pusat Sejadi Recreational Forest Kawang, managed by Sabah Forestry Department on August 18.
Attended by Deputy Chief Minister and Tourism, Culture and Environment minister Christina Liew, a total of 188 students from 10 schools throughout Sabah participated in the three contests, “YB Minister, we have something to say”, Choral Speaking and Environment Video, organized in conjunction with the Institut Sinaran Environment Day 2018.
“On behalf of the Board of Governors and the Sinaran families, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude for YB’s (Liew’s) support in providing us a total amount of RM20,000 as financial support for the Institut Sinaran Interschool Environment Day activities. Today would not have been possible without YB’s assistance,” said Yong.
“To Hap Seng Properties Sdn Bhd, we are also very grateful for the financial assistance you have given us,” she noted.
Kota Kinabalu Hakka Association chairman Datuk Jimmy Yong Kyok Ming, Institut Sinaran Board of Governors chairman Fong Tet Kong, Sabah Environment Department director Tunku Khalkausar Tunku Fathahi, Sabah Environmental Protection Department deputy director Vitalis J Moduying, Hap Seng Properties general manager David Wan and Kota Kinabalu Hakka Association fourth vice chairman Ling Kon Pau were also present during the closing ceremony.