Arts, Life..My Kind of Idea

I was reading a local newspaper this morning..read an interesting subject about the environment, specifically about WASTE MANAGEMENT. So, i thought it would be a good subject to post in my blog..

I've some interesting facts from the paper...and it's really unbelievable. I never knew about this and those who knew..you're such a good earthlings! This info is about the waste decomposition rate of certain items..

The fact that Kuala Lumpur produces 3,000 to 3,500 tonnes of domestic and industrial waste per day is expected. More and more people living in the city. The garbage rots in the landfills and produces a toxic goey substance called leachate.

Leachate is the liquid that drains or 'leaches' from a landfill; it varies widely in composition regarding the age of the landfill and the type of waste that it contains. It can usually contain both dissolved and suspended material - source; Wikipedia


If you look closely, leachate is the orangy colour appeared at the edge of the water.

For every 3,500 tonnes of rubbish, 525,000 litres of leachate produced. The leachate move either above and below the ground, into reservoirs and rivers. And of course they will contaminate our natural resources.

As we all knew, waste management starts at home..yes..i, myself tried to reduce my household's garbage and trying very hard on the 3R concept (reduce, reuse, recycle), but..not 100% working for me at the moment (luckily just the 3 of us in the house, it helps a lot!). Though we have the awareness, but our (i mean Malaysian) civic conscious is still low, thus..littering still occurred. Changing of attitude definitely is the problem. But does education will work? Hopefully more and more people support this effort and you don't need a certificate or degree to do that.

WASTE DECOMPOSITION RATE
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1) STYROFOAM - NOT COMPOSED!!
2) PLASTIC BOTTLE - 1 MILLION YEARS!!
3) DISPOSABLE DIAPER - 500 TO 600 YEARS!!
4) ALUMINIUM TIN - 200 TO 500 YEARS!!
5) STEEL - 80 TO 100 YEARS!
6) LEATHER SHOES - 40 TO 50 YEARS!
7) WOOD - 10 TO 15 YEARS
8) STOCKING - 1 YEAR
9) CLOTHES - 5 MONTHS
10)NEWSPAPER - 1 MONTH
11)BANANA PEEL - 3 TO 4 WEEKS

(After reading these, i was wondering are there any new solutions of replacing 'items' that takes million of years to decompose..which also should be convenience and easy to the users as well?)

These are some of the common approaches to reduce waste :
i) Segregate waste in order to reduce waste disposal at the landfill (not just separating glass, metal, plastic, etc but also draining out liquids form waste before placing into bins)

ii) Implement the 3R Concept (reduce, reuse, recycle)

iii) Buy goods that use less packaging ad reduce consumption of goods and services

iv) Use containers and jars to replace polystyrene containers when take-away (or 'tapau' as Malaysian knows) your food

v) Place a plastic into your bins before throwing waste

....So why don't the government ban the usage of polystyrene food containers? They are the most hazardous and famously used in Malaysia. Even worse, we knew its hazardous but we still and keep on using them. Weird facts!


I blame myself as well..I've never implemented the method of taking your own food containers when 'tapau' my foods at the restaurants. It's not that convenience and very awkward especially in Malaysian culture. Culture...yes, that's the word. So, if the Malaysian culture is too difficult to change, i think i should change my own culture, one change does count! So, for a starter..maybe i might bring my own food containers when buying rice gravies at the restaurants nearby my house!