Speech as the State Local Government Committee chairman during the Viewing of Golden Sands Resort’s Recycling Initiative on Friday, 28th March, 2008.

Congratulations to Golden Sands Resort and the Penang Environment Working Group (PEWOG) for carrying out this recycling programme.
Your “waste to wealth” recycling programme has collected 17 tonnes of recyclable materials which has contributed RM7,000 to the resort’s Green Fund since December 2007.
It is important for all of us to take part in recycling.
Today, our environment is threatened by the big load of rubbish which our society is generating everyday. This rubbish has to be disposed off and it is costing the government and the rate payers a big sum of money because the process of rubbish disposal is getting more costly.
The island of Penang produces 800 tonnes of rubbish daily and at RM110 per tonne, inclusive of the cost of collection, transport, transfer of rubbish by barge from Batu Maung on the island to the landfill in Pulau Burung in Seberang Prai Selatan, rubbish disposal in the island costs us RM88,000 per day or RM2.64 million a month.
The average cost of disposal of 1,000 tonne of rubbish a day in Seberang Prai, inclusive of collection, transport and transfer of rubbish from Ampang Jajar to Pulau Burung is RM70 per tonne or RM70,000 a day or RM2.1 million a month.
The total waste disposal cost of 1,800 tonnes of rubbish per day for the state of Penang is RM158,000 per day or RM4.74 million per month.
Through recycling, we can reduce the amount of rubbish which ends up in our landfill.
If we can all put in our effort to recycle our rubbish, we can reduce the volume of rubbish in the state by 30 per cent of 540 tonnes a day.
At an average cost of RM88 per tonne for both Penang island and Seberang Prai, we can save RM47.520 a day or RM1.425 million a month.
This waste management cost will increase with time, as cost of fuel, labour and maintenance and replacement of equipment increases.
Cost savings through recycling and waste diversion from the landfill will mean that our assessment rates need not be increased to meet the rising cost of waste management and that our two municipal councils can channel more money into better public facilities and services.
I am glad that todate, the recycling rate in Penang island today is 15 per cent and the rate in Seberang Prai is 18 per cent, compared to the national average of 4.5 per cent.
We need to increase this rate to 30 per cent, to effect greater savings in our waste management costs.
In this consideration then, the recycling initiative in Golden Sands Resort is an encouraging addition to the effort of the State Government, through our two municipal councils and the Penang Environment Working Group (Pewog), to increase our recycling rate in Penang to 30 per cent.
I believe that if we all work together, we shall be able to achieve this recycling target.
I hope that recycling initiative of the Golden Sands Resort will become a catalyst to recycling programmes in all hotels in Penang.
Considering what Golden Sands Resort has achieved in such a short time - 16 tonnes in three months or 5.3 tonnes per month - we can picture what recycling in all our Penang hotels can do for our state’s recycling effort.
There indeed is truly a big scope for recycling in Penang’s hotels.
I hope that the Malaysian Association of Hotels, Penang Chapter, can take up recycling as a special project and promote it amongst all your members.
There is also the added incentive of being able to raise funds for your staff welfare and your favourite charities.
I wish to once again thank Golden Sands Resort and PEWOG for inviting me to this Viewing of Golden Sands Resprt’s recycling initiative.
I wish you every success in your recycling programme. Thank you.