World Environment Day – Empowering through Action
In conjunction with World Environment Day 2022, SI Bangsar in collaboration with IMU and SI Seremban organised a clean – up (gotong – royong) activity for the Orang Asli community of Kampung Sebir, Labu. This initiative was held on 12th June 2022 and involved the participation of volunteers from SI Bangsar as well as IMU Seremban. The Orang Asli community of Kampung Sebir have no proper waste management services provided hence resulting in the accumulation of waste products in their surroundings which is disposed by means of burying or burning the rubbish. This accumulation had also led to excessive littering in the vicinity of their residential areas. Much of the waste accumulated includes that of plastics, tins and glass which can be recycled.
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We received support from YB Nicole Tan, MP for Bukit Kepayang who officiated the event with a speech. She later had further discussions with the team as to how we can effectively and sustainably continue to execute and maintain the aims and objectives of the program. Our event was curated so as to achieve the objective of both awareness and action. Not only did we set out to assist in cleaning up the area but we also sought to educate the community on more effective waste management by promoting the benefits of the 3Rs, reduce, reuse and recycle. A short presentation on the importance of a safe and healthy living environment was given to increase the awareness of the community on the adverse effects if the current issue was not addressed. This aspect of the program was aimed towards educating the community and raising awareness. In terms of action and active participation, the clean-up initiative was organized to collect the rubbish and segregate as much of it that can be sent for recycling. In doing so, to spread awareness on the importance of a clean environment, the members of the community were encouraged to actively participate in the clean-up activity |
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and were divided into groups alongside the other volunteers to clean up the surrounding area. Each group was delegated a certain area of the village and were required to collect the rubbish and simultaneously segregate them with the use of colour coded rubbish bags. To facilitate the disposal of the rubbish collected, Southern Waste Management Corporation upon discussion had offered to bring in a dump truck to collect all the waste and to help in disposing the waste. The dump truck then stopped at main junctions around the village whilst the volunteers brought the rubbish bags to be disposed. Though everyone was tired after a rigorous clean up session, it was a very rewarding experience to see the transformation in the vicinity of the village almost instantly. The program was concluded with the distribution of goodie bags for the children of the community and provision supply for each family. All the volunteers as well as members of the community were also provided with lunch. It was a Sunday morning well spent in amplifying the need to take better care of our environment and appreciating that there are many factors at play when it comes to effectively keeping the environment clean. |
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