'Reduce use of plastic bottles' at Sabah island national parks

New Straits Times 26 Sep 10;

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Parks, the government agency in charge of of Sabah's national parks, has been asked to come up with a plan to reduce the use of plastic bottles in the islands under its care.

Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said a set of long-term guidelines was important to reduce the plastic bottle waste in Sabah's islands gradually as an outright ban was too drastic.

"It isn't easy to ban the use of plastic bottles. So, some plan should be in place to stop its use in stages."

He added that he hoped there would eventually be no plastic bottle waste.

He explained that plastic bottle waste is hazardous to marine life.

Masidi was speaking to reporters after launching a campaign to reduce the use of plastic bottles on Mamutik island, about 15 minutes from here.

Also present at the event were the ministry's permanent secretary Datuk Suzannah Liaw, state environmental protection department director Yabi Yangkat, Sabah Parks deputy director Daring Laban and managing director of Borneo Divers Clement Lee.

Meanwhile, an underwater and land gotong-royong effort at the same place saw some 811.5kg of thrash collected from surrounding areas.

The two programmes were participated by some 150 people from several departments and agencies as well as students.

Masidi said that in the same campaign last year, a large percentage of the rubbish collected were plastic bottles.