SIBU: Communities here are urged to adopt recycling practices in order to reduce the dumping of rubbish at the Kemuyang landfill.
Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) chairman Clarence Ting Ing Horth pointed out that SMC is currently facing the biggest challenge, that the landfill in Kemuyang is rapidly reaching its capacity.
“We do not have a better solution. What is happening is that rubbish is growing every single year but the landfill area remains the same.
“We have to think about five years from now, we hope that the rubbish in Sibu, every day we throw 500 tonnes of rubbish that maybe half will be recycled. We hope one day that only 10 per cent will be thrown at the landfill and the rest will be recycled.
“This should be our goal so that the landfill will be the last resort for all of us,” he said at the EcoPlus App soft launch ceremony held at the premises of University of Technology Sarawak (UTS) here on Tuesday (Oct 17).
The unveiling of EcoPlus, a ground-breaking mobile app that embodies the essence of environmental awareness and community collaboration, is the result of a fruitful partnership between SMC and UTS.
Ting said as the Sibu population grows, it would be very difficult for SMC to find a proper place for a new landfill.
He said the Miri City Council has its landfill 60km away from Miri and needs to put the rubbish in a so called transit area before they send it to the landfill.
“Our Sibu landfill is exactly 20km away but we could be exactly the same as Miri in the near future. Most people don’t think about landfill as they don’t see it. If we dd not handle our rubbish in a sustainble way, one day we will have too much rubbish and have no place to put it.
“The more awareness that we create on recycling, the more sustainable our lifestyle will be and this is very crucial.
“This is why SMC continues to encourage UTS to work together with us to help come up with more innovative practices to make sure that we are looking ahead.”
Ting thanked the students of the Faculty of Computer Studies for coming up with the EcoPlus app to create more awareness in society and he looks forward to UTS coming up with more solutions for SMC and Sibu as a whole.
Also present was UTS deputy vice-chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Shahril Osman.
