Plastic Pollution In Malaysia: Why Plastic Bags Should Be Banned

Plastic bag is very light, most recognized and useful inventions that can be seen in daily lives. Nevertheless, there is a downside due to overuse of plastic bags to the environment. The lands that have filled up with plastic bag are very dangerous to flora and fauna. According to Taylor (2016), there are more than 8 million tonnes of plastics enter the ocean each year and marine experts fear there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. Based on the Malaysia Plastic Manufactures Association (MPMA) the average Malaysian uses 300 plastic bags per year. Thus with a population of 30 million, multiply that with 300 then, the result is a whopping 9 billion plastic bags Malaysian are using per year ( Bavani & Wong,P.M, 2016).

Furthermore, single-use plastic bags will be banned in all Victoria supermarkets and shops from this year November. Plastic shopping bags less than 35 microns thick will be banned, including degradable, biodegradable and compostable plastic shopping bags (City of Victoria, 2019). The city of Victoria’s Checkout Bag Bylaw came into effect Victorian’s have adopted more sustainable habits by embracing reusable shopping bags as the new normal (City of Victoria, 2019). The checkout bag can be paper bags and reusable bags. Therefore, the paper bags are made out of paper and containing least 40% post-consumer recycled content and labeled as recyclable whereas the reusable bags are designed and manufactured to be capable of at least 100 uses and primarily made of cloth or other washable fabric. Besides that, the residents of Victoria have started use glass instead of plastic container for leftovers and wrap food scraps in a sheet of newspaper in June 2018. This is because newspaper is much cheaper than a packet of plastic bags and it can recycle. In additional, South Africa was the first to issue a ban after declaring the plastic bag had become their ‘national flower’ (SBS news, 2018). This was due to the amount of bags turning up in trees and bushes as litter. In 2003 South Africa announced fines of 100,000 rand or a 10-year jail term to show they were serious about the issue. Malaysia may also follow this way which is a legislative ban on lightweight single-use plastic bags, penalty for those resident using the plastic bags and embrace with reusable bags and paper bags.

Last but not least, the easiest and most obvious way to eliminate plastic in the future is to stop buying products featuring any plastic at all, but 'cold turkey-ing' plastic products is not necessarily convenient or practical and people are still heavily reluctant to the idea. The problem of plastic is of epic proportion, but the solution need not be difficult. In a small town on a tiny island off Panama, residents are taking on the plastic problem themselves by transforming plastic bottles into eco-friendly and stylish buildings. The plastic bottle village is transforming one man's trash into another's condo. The man leading the project, Canadian born Rober Bezue, developed the project after becoming fed up with cleaning bottles, sometimes years old, off of the island's beaches. To find a resolution, Bezue developed a way to transform plastic bottles into a building. Construction promptly began, and the small village was aptly dubbed the Plastic Bottle Village. The buildings are remarkably efficient, keeping the house nearly 35 degrees cooler than the surrounding Panamanian Jungle. Moreover, one house can consume and lock away more than 20,000 bottles (Lang and Wendorf, 2018). The bottles are stuffed in between wire mesh and act as both insulation and a structural component. The final step involves covering the walls with concrete (Lang and Wendorf, 2018). It not only solves the plastic pollution and also uses the plastic to make out revenue through this project.

In conclusion, this is a lot of solution to the plastic pollution and problems. In few countries have started using science and engineering way to solve the problem such as biodegradable water bottles made from algae, new flexible packaging uses crab shells and trees instead of plastic and mushroom packaging. For mushroom packaging, the visible portion of a fungus, or a mushroom, represents only a small fraction of the entire organism. Beneath each squishy entity is an extensive network of thread-like roots better known as mycelium and evidently, these fibrous members may offer the final solution to alternative plastic packaging. Malaysia also may follow the example of solutions in other countries to solve the plastic pollution and problems.

References

• Bavani, M & Wong,P.M. (2016). Billions of plastic bags still being used - Metro News | The Star Online. [online] Available at: https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/community/2016/08/22/billions-of-plastic-bags-still-being-used-six-years-have-gone-by-since-the-government-launched-the-n/ [Accessed 29 Jul. 2019].
• City of Victoria. (2019). Reducing Single-use Plastic Bags. [online] Available at: https://www.victoria.ca/EN/main/residents/climate-change/single-use-plastic-bags.html [Accessed 29 Jul. 2019].
• Lang, F., Lang, F., Shop, I. and Wendorf, M. (2018). How to Eliminate Plastic Waste and Plastic Pollution with Science and Engineering. [online] Interestingengineering.com. Available at: https://interestingengineering.com/how-to-eliminate-plastic-waste-and-plastic-pollution-with-science-and-engineering [Accessed 29 Jul. 2019].
• SBS News. (2018). Taxes, fines and jail time: The strictest plastic bag laws around the world . [online] Available at: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/taxes-fines-and-jail-time-the-strictest-plastic-bag-laws-around-the-world [Accessed 29 Jul. 2019].
• Taylor, M. (2019). With 'unforgettable' bag, Malaysian shoppers paid to cut plastic waste. [online] Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-asia-environment-plastic/with-unforgettable-bag-malaysian-shoppers-paid-to-cut-plastic-waste-idUSKCN1HA28K [Accessed 29 Jul. 2019].