Our team on the island have been working tirelessly to address the issue of waste management on the island, as there is still no proper municipal waste system in place. We've recently had to spend over RM1,000 to send out the trash collected on the island from December-January to proper dumping site on the mainland. We'd like to thank Yayasan Hasanah, GEF SGP Malaysia, and The Coca-Cola Foundation for supporting this waste management program, as well as Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia for lending us his land for temporary waste collection and waste segregation.
Plastic waste ready to be sent out of the island
Plastic recycling bins have been placed around the village, each bin shared by 2-3 families. The PET/HDPE plastics collected will be compressed before being sent out and purchased by a recycling centre in Inanam. A total of 753kg of plastics were sent out in early January. However, we are struggling the cost of handling and transportation, as they exceed the amount received from the sale of the recyclables, by almost 6 times!
Magnets and eco-purse set
We're also working on recycling plastics into merchandise that can be sold to generate income for the islanders. We are currently in the progress of making recycled HDPE fridge magnets, to be sold together with recycled plastic wrap eco-bags made by the islanders. Other local products produced by the locals include the Virgin Coconut Oil, Sambal Cukup Rasa, Eco Purse made from single use sachet, and Fridge Magnet Eco Set. These products are marketed on an online marketing platform called Mantanani Local Product, as an effort to help the local community to earn a side income and support the recovery from COVID-19.
Participants during the homestay training programme
Apart from that, a total of four training modules were developed and delivered to local homestays operators on the island. More than 20 participants from 11 homestays participated in these series of training aimed at improving their homestay quality and services based on the Homestays ASEAN Standard criteria. The modules included topics on management and challenges, developing marketable packages, safety and emergency procedures as well as biodiversity and cultural awareness.
