KUCHING: Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) is calling on the people within its jurisdiction to completely do away with styrofoam containers and plastic bags.
Its deputy chairman Dato Ahmad Ibrahim acknowledged that it would take time or even years to change the people’s mindset, but hoped they would start to do so now and take ownership of the ‘Say no to Styrofoam Containers and Plastic Bags’ campaign.
He believed that the public knew what styrofoam and plastic bags could do to their health and the environment.
Winners and participants of the colouring contest in a group photograph with their families and council staff. Ahmad is at back row, third left.
Styrofoam is known to cause cancer while plastic bags are harmful not just to humans but also to wildlife and marine life as they can take up to 1,000 years to decompose.
“We have to drum this into the people’s mind. We all have to play our role. Don’t use them because they are not good for our health and the environment,” he told reporters after declaring open a colourng contest held in conjunction with the council’s ‘Say No to Styrofoam Containers and Plastic Bags’ awareness campaign at Giant Supermarket in Mile 10 here yesterday.
He added that public response to the campaign, which was launched by Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian in Batu Kawa last year, was quite good but not as good as what the council expected it to be because habits die hard.
He added that the response was fairly good in the first few months but over time the people forgot and started to go back to their old ways – using styrofoam containers and plastic bags again.
“As far as food outlets in the council’s jurisdiction are concerned, most of the operators no longer use styrofoam containers while most supermarkets have stopped issuing plastic bags on weekends, but if their customers insist, they would charge them accordingly.
Ahmad said the campaign was initiated by the council last year, but public acceptance to it was rather lagging.
“But we will not give up on it in the hope that over the long run, the people would warm up to the idea.”