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Take a look at these checkout counters.
Do you see any problem?
Every minute, almost 1 million plastic bags are consumed globally.
Well over 500 billion plastic bags are annually consumed worldwide,
of which the most 3% ends up getting recycled.
Where do the rest go?
They collect from the houses.
They will send it to the transfer station in Jinjang also
just next to the landfill
you can see there's a big building there.
- Is that where the trucks go in?
- Yes, it's like a factory building
that you can see from the highway.
That is what we call the "Transfer Station".
So from there, they will put it into a bigger container
and bring it to a landfill somewhere in Rawang.
- So then do they just leave it at the dumpsite?
- They just put it at the dumpsite
and cover it with soil.
- That's all? - Yes.
- Then they'll just let it...
- ... let it degrade.
- So then the plastic bags will not degrade, right?
- It depends on the plastic bags as it's all mixed together.
- But in general most of the plastic bags people use outside are all non-degradable.
- Yes, that's right.
- So then, how...
- They use it to tie up their garbage, isn't it?
- So what will happen after that, normally?
- If it is a non-biodegradable plastic bag it will stay like that for 100 to 200 years.
- Forever?
- Forever.
Do you use a lot of plastic bags?
- Yes, quite a lot.
A lot.
Not that much.
- In one day, how many plastic bags do you use?
- An estimate of about 100 to 150 bags.
About there.
Take a quick look around
and you'll see plastic bags after plastic bags after plastic bags passing you by.
Once they are done being used, many end up being just thrown away.
- Currently, are you guys facing any problem
in terms of running out of space to bury these non-degradable plastic bags?
- That is why the KL landfill is now closed
because the space is... just too full already.
- There's a mountain there...
inside there is all the...
- It used to be a mining pond about 100m in depth,
now it's like a hill of about 150m.
So all together it's like 100 plus 150...
- It's like 250 meters, it's like a 6 to 7 storey building.
It's about that.
Several landfills in Selangor state has become increasingly overfilled.
Earlier this year, the Taman Beringin landfill in Jinjang was closed due to lack of space.
The remaining Air Itam landfill is also overfilled.
Several other landfills such as Kundang and Sungai Kembung
were also closed early April this year
due to leakage of landfill waste toxics
known as "leachate".
If it is not properly treated, the leachate water that I mentioned just now
will just pollute the water.
- How do you all...
You mean there's a way to make sure all the water goes through a certain thing?
- There's supposed to be like a piping line inside,
because once the water drips inside
the water from the process
there will be the piping so that the water will go into that piping and into the treatment pond.
- But all Alam Flora will have the thing is it?
- No, for in KL we don't do that.
- Then what happens to the water?
- It's just a simple pond... just a simple one
because it's actually being previously developed by DBKL so there's nothing much you can do
you can't dig it all the way back out to install that.
As space is limited, the continuous consumption of plastic bags will spell trouble in the future
when we run out of space to bury them,
since the common plastic bag takes hundreds of years to degrade and break down.
Thankfully, a new breed of plastic bags known as degradable,
biodegradable, or oxo-biodegradable
has been introduced since a few years back.
Do you know the difference between a degradable bag and a non-degradable bag?
No as well.
Don't know.
By looking at the...
- The symbol?
- Yes.
Non-degradable is that like I've told you before.
Example... plastic bags are the best example
because when you dump it, it will stay there forever, just like what you said.
But for the biodegradable, after some time let's say a month or two
it will slowly decompose.
- By a month or two it will already...
- Yes, it will already decompose back.
- So currently, you guys are getting more non-degradable plastic bags?
- More non-degradable. Yes.
But I think that now,
Carrefour,
Jusco,
and I think a few other hypermarkets
are now slowly producing biodegradable plastic bags for the consumers.
So I think this is...
- But it's more expensive, right?
- It is actually more expensive.
That is why most of the others don't want to change.
It's a bit costly.
Even though degradable bags have been around for some time now,
a large majority of plastic bags in circulation are still not degradable.
They continue to place unnecessary burdens on our diminishing landfills,
polluting the land and water,
and if incinerated, polluting the air as well.
- If you look at it from an environmental aspect
I think by now,
but maybe the younger generation know this better than the older ones
through readings and things like that.
But it might take time for the...
...for us to change the attitude from what we have right now to a new one
So even...
This takes time.
We will slowly try to make it that the whole generation
that they can slowly change this attitude for the conservation of the environment because
you can see there's pollution everywhere.
Money's not going to pay for that.
It's just too costly just to reverse this all back.
Action needs to be taken to ensure that people start changing their attitudes
towards their usage of plastic bags.
We take things for granted,
and if we don't change our ways,
we may never see greenery again.
© Derrick Foo and Joan Chuen (IAA60)