Abidin (fourth right) and Sabin (third right) launching the “Hari-Hari Bawa Beg Bah” campaign.
KOTA KINABALU (Aug 1): The Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) hopes for a by-law to be put in place to curb plastic waste littering in the city and outer areas.
Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Abidin Madingkir, said a by-law is needed as it can at least stop the usage of plastic bags, otherwise the recent plastic bag usage ban would be akin to a “toothless effort”.
Abidin said this is because following DBKK’s ban on plastic bag usage in the city areas starting August 1, there are basically no repercussions for those caught not complying, with the offenders only given a “friendly warning”.
“Sooner or later, I think it’s high time to enact this law because there’s no point in just talking about it but there’s no by-law to stop these people, so we will look at it together as a common cause for the benefit of the people of Sabah.
“I’ll give an example. In Singapore, those caught littering can be fined 500 Singapore Dollars, and that’s not cheap. But in Sabah, sorry to say that those from the islands who littered and were fined, what did they do? They opened their wallets, saw there’s nothing inside. Then, what can you do?
“I also remember there was once a campaign where the public was encouraged to take the licence plates of motorists who littered from their vehicles, although I was made to understand that when they were brought to court, it was a bit difficult to prove the case.
“But for me, whether we enact the law or otherwise, as responsible citizens, we should not litter. If we look at our seasides, they are filled with plastic rubbish, with many blaming residents of Pulau Gaya, when in fact, a study by University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) found that 70 percent of that rubbish had actually come from the mainland, not the islands,” he said after launching the “Hari-Hari Bawa Beg Bah” campaign at Bataras Hypermarket near Gaya Street here on Thursday.
He said the campaign is a historic moment as it marks the start of DBKK’s green initiative implementation, which means that single-use plastic bags will not be provided to shoppers at supermarkets, hypermarkets, marts, departmental stores, chain stores, pharmacies, grocery stores, gas station convenience stores, bakeries and clothing stores.
He said only traders of raw or ‘wet’ materials such as fish, meat and seafood in the markets are allowed to use plastic materials for packaging purposes.
This is only implemented within the DBKK area for now, but will be expanded to other areas in the future, including the Manggatal, Inanam and Telipok towns, he said.
The former mayor said the initiative, formerly known as the “Bawa Beg Bah” campaign which was implemented every Saturday, Sunday and Monday, is an effort by DBKK to preserve the nature of the city, reduce pollution caused by single-use plastic bags and at the same time create a city that can be inherited by future generations.
Abidin said since the implementation of the previous campaign to reduce the use of plastic bags for three days since September 11, 2023 until June this year, the use of single-use plastic bags had reduced by 40 percent or 11,000 tonnes at all major supermarkets in the city.
“The implementation of the ‘Hari-Hari Bawa Beg Bah’ campaign aims to achieve zero single-use plastic bags every day.
“As a step forward, DBKK will then extend the implementation of this campaign to all other types of business premises including all restaurants, fast food restaurants, hardware stores, beauty accessories stores and sports stores.
“DBKK calls on all the other State Government agencies, especially the Local Government and Housing Ministry and the State Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry to join in implementing this programme in the rest of the state’s districts.
“I believe that with the support of all levels of society as well as the participation of the local authorities around the city of Kota Kinabalu, particularly the Penampang Municipal Council, the Putatan District Council and the Tuaran District Council, the implementation of the campaign to reduce the use of single-use plastic bags will succeed in becoming a catalyst in creating a green and clean city of Kota Kinabalu that can be emulated by other districts throughout the state.
“All residents of Kota Kinabalu and visitors from outside the district are once again called upon to provide reusable bags or eco-friendly bags by themselves when shopping. Reduce plastic bags, reuse and recycle for a better tomorrow,” he said.
Also present was Mayor Dato’ Sri Dr Sabin Samitah.
