KUCHING: Limkokwing Institute of Creative Technology (LICT) final year students from the Faculty of Communication, Media and Broadcasting hope to spark an awareness on responsible trash disposal among city dwellers.
On Saturday, 96 volunteers joined hands in a clean-up activity at Kuching Waterfront, Carpenter Street and India Street as part of a Reuse or Refuse (RoR) 2019 campaign organised by the institute to spread awareness of reducing plastic waste.
During the clean-up activity, participants were urged to bring their own ‘3Rs’ which were Refillable water bottles, Re-wearable raincoat or Reusable umbrella and hand gloves to solidify the project’s goals.
The campaign aims to educate the people of Kuching city on how plastic waste affects every level of the environment especially sea creatures while making Kuching an environmentally-friendly city for both locals and foreigners.
RoR 2019 project manager Kelly Hiu said the clean-up served as a platform to express concern on the excessive usage of plastics and to encourage Kuchingites to start using alternative materials to substitute plastic containers and utensils.
“Clean-ups have become a recent trend, especially beach clean-ups. Taking the #trashtag for example, a social media challenge that prompted people around the world to pick up trash.
“Therefore, through collaborations with Wildlife Conservative and Science (WCS), Sarawak Eco-Warriors, Kuching Beach Cleaners and Spativate, we hope to spark an awareness on responsible trash disposal among the citizens,” she added.
One of the volunteers Daniel Luis who was participating in an environmental-related event for the first time said, “I have always been conscious about the importance of saving our environment and have wanted to contribute in some way, hence RoR 2019 became a platform that gives me an opportunity to do so.”
In support of RoR’s efforts of instilling awareness on reducing the use of plastics, five eatery outlets in Kuching namely Indah House, The Dyak, The Granary, Mr Domus Café and Wind Meal Café joined the campaign by putting up ‘We Are No Longer Serving Plastic Straws’ notices at their respective cafes.
From Sept 26 to Oct 26, RoR 2019 organising team have set up a booth at the LICT campus at Jalan Nanas to collect clean plastic wastes such as bottles of any kind, bottle caps, containers, utensils, cups and straws which will be handed over to selected recycling centres.
Both the clean-up and the plastic collection drive will lead to the campaign’s main Stage Event at The Hills, Kuching on Oct 26 from 12pm to 6pm which includes workshops and awareness talks on plastic usage and managing plastic wastes, interactive games for kids plus performances from LICT’s Music Club and Dance Club.
