Cintai Mantanani is a long-term effort by Reef Check Malaysia which strives to ensure the economic well-being of the community while protecting our marine environment. Currently, we have a team of three based on Mantanani Island running the projects on the ground relating to waste management, plastic recycling, alternative livehoods, and, community-based tourism.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY PROGRAMME
The Mantanani Economic Recovery Programme is an initiative by Yayasan Hasanah Foundation aimed to support the livelihoods of the local community in Mantanani through creating employment opportunities in various economic activities, such as the Kebun Komuniti and the virgin coconout oil production.
kebun komuniti
Tending to a community garden is no easy job yet the Kebun Komuniti team is doing an incredible job in managing it! They visit the garden every day to water the crops and keep the garden clean.
Despite the setbacks with some of their crops being eaten by animals or stolen, and the slight disruption due to a few Covid-19 cases identified on the island, the members have harvested bags and bags full of fruits and vegetables in the last 3 months. Most of the harvest were sold to the local community members while some were kept for the members own use.
virgin coconut oil production
The virgin coconut oil production members successfully made 3 gallons worth of VCO back in July! Later in September, 15 more bottles of VCO were shipped off to be sold at a local shop on mainland.
Since the start of the programme, the team has generated a total of RM3,201 in sales. While they are only producing the VCOs by request now, the members still look forward to serving their customers and growing their sales.
Waste Management & Plastic Recycling Programme
Since November 2018, our team has worked closely with the community of Mantanani Island to design and demonstrate a waste management system that aims to prevent marine pollution, and ultimately improve the resilience of the island. This programme is made possible with the support of the Coca Cola Foundation and KOSÉ this quarter.
waste management
As there were a few Covid-19 cases identified on the island in late August, we had to halt the daily waste collection operation as our waste management team goes house to house daily to collect household waste and it can put them in high risk. Once the situation on the island was deemed safer, our operation went back on track.
From July to September this year, a total of 16,699.52 kg of trash were collected with from the participating households.
plastic recycling
With the population of roughly around 1,000, we do not have the resources or even the volume to set up a recycling facility here, so sending the recyclables off to mainland, Kota Belud, is the only feasible solution so far.
A total of 22,762 plastic bottles (collected from the month of May to August) were shipped off to the recycling centre on mainland.
As of now, the team has already collected a total of 5,958 of plastic bottles in the September alone.