PERSPECTIVE: NOT EASY TO LIVE PLASTIC-FREE – Consumers Association Penang

Journalist Nina Muslim and her colleague Amirul Sajadi tried plastic-free living for a day. Her conclusion: “The big winner here is obviously plastic and the plastics industry. It is shocking the amount of plastic we use daily, often incidentally.”

Nevertheless, it was a worthwhile challenge. “I started the day aiming for plastic-free. I ended the day with zero-waste goals,” says Nina.

Current initiatives to reduce plastic waste, like substituting plastic bags at supermarket checkout counters with canvas bags, will barely do anything to curb plastic pollution if we do not also cut down on the amount of plastic we use to wrap our food and contain our household supplies, she wrote.

“More shops and businesses should adopt sustainability concepts and work in tandem in solving waste problems by encouraging reusing, reducing and recycling (products). Discounts can also be given to customers who bring their own bottles, containers, tiffin carriers, reusable bags,” she said.

Malaysia has options to help reduce the amount of plastic waste but plastic-free and low-waste stores and products are limited, notes the writer in the final of a 3-part series on plastics, and how to live with and without them by Bernama.