WASTE NOT: Abdul Wahap (standing fifth left) and Layberry (standing fourth left) posing for a group photo at the recycling area with the hotel’s LightStay committee members.
KUCHING: Kuching North City Hall (DBKU) mayor Datuk Abang Abdul Wahap Abang Julai urged individuals and businesses to minimise wasteful packaging in effort to reduce waste and save the environment.
“We are all aware of recycling but we need to be reminded that there is another option in our efforts to save the environment, which is reduction. It is important to be aware that recycling, although better than throwing stuff away, is not necessarily the best option. Reduction is even better,” said Abdul Wahap at the official launching of Hilton Kuching’s ‘Minimisation of Wasteful Packaging’ initiative yesterday.
Pointing out that much of today’s packaging is wasteful and not sustainable, Abdul Wahap said businesses can do more than they realise in reducing wasteful packaging.
“Packaging waste makes up one-third of all commercial garbage, making it an easy point for businesses to improve their waste management practices and reduce the costs associated with waste disposal and packaging.
“If enough people look at reducing their packaging waste, manufacturers and suppliers will soon get the message and we will see less wasteful packaging,” he said.
Abdul Wahap commended Hilton Kuching’s bold initiative in choosing products with minimal packaging and avoiding those with excess packaging, adding that such an initiative is in tandem with DBKU’s zero-waste programme.
He disclosed that DBKU’s recycling rate was about one per cent of the total solid waste generated. In 2005, it rose to 5 per cent and last year it recorded a recycling rate of 16 per cent. The national target set by the federal Ministry of Housing and Local Government was for the nation to achieve 22 per cent recycling rate by the year 2020.
“DBKU has set plans and goals that focus on waste minimisation. A paradigm shift of how people look at waste needs to take place if we are to achieve zero waste. Solid waste generated should no longer be perceived as things people don’t want but rather as things that other people might want and maybe willing to pay for,” he said.
He further noted that Hilton Kuching is one of a handful of corporate entities that really practices waste minimisation through its various sustainability initiatives.
The launch of the ‘Minimisation of Wasteful Packaging’ initiative yesterday was in conjunction with the 1st anniversary of the hotel’s own recycling centre.
According to the hotel’s operations manager Morgan Layberry, Hilton Kuching has successfully reduced some 43 percent in waste volume going to the landfill and reduced its operating cost by RM1,200 per month, through their recycling efforts.
“The management can’t do this alone. We need our staff members and other stakeholders to be involved too. We are engaging the community to reduce our impact on the environment,” he said.
Packaging to the hotel comes in many forms from corrugated cartons, plastic bags and shrink-wrap to pallets and drums, and through the implementation of the wasteful packaging initiative, the hotel is involving its suppliers and working towards eliminating, reducing and using refillable or reusable packaging as well as exploring the use of other less wasteful alternatives.
Hilton Kuching has a LightStay Committee, comprising members of various departments, who are responsible for the realisation of sustainability policies and practices of the hotel.