Category: News

Published: Wednesday, 13 June 2018 11:06

In conjunction with the Ramadhan month, the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (JPS), ERE Consultant Group, Malaysian Agriculture Settlement (MAS) and EcoKnights organized a campaign called Beg2Bekas which aimed to reduce single-plastic usage throughout the Ramadhan Bazar. Beg2Bekas was a 14-day campaign, starting from 26th May 2018 until 10th June 2018, at Jalan Raja Uda, Kampung Baru. This was the second Beg2Bekas campaign organized by all the parties and the first Beg2Bekas was conducted at Taman Tenaga, Cheras in 2017.

A total of 1000 sets of recycling bags and containers were given away to the public or local residents who visited the Bazar. The set of recycling bag and container was one of the initial steps to encourage the public or local residents to minimize the usage of single-use plastic bags for food take-away. A coupon system was developed to encourage the consistency of the usage of containers and recycling bags throughout the whole 14-day campaign. One stamp was given for each food container packed with food and participants received a grocery item with 10 stamps on a coupon. A total of 174 units of grocery items were given out in this campaign, proving a good engagement amongst the public or local residents in practicing their habit to reduce plastic usage in their daily life.

Other than engaging with buyers in the bazaar, EcoKnights also worked with a few vendors in the Bazaar to participate in the campaign by collecting their used cooking oil. As a reward, each vendor received 5kg of new cooking oil for every 10kg of used cooking oil collected. This action managed to garner the attention and interest amongst the vendors as EcoKnights received 110L used cooking oil by the end of the campaign. The used cooking oil will be converted into dishwashing soap.

More than 1,200 people engaged in this campaign, consisting of vendors, local residents and public, indicating the awareness in minimizing the usage of single-use plastic was widely spread around Kampung Baru. EcoKnights is now looking forward to similar engagements in reducing the waste production in Malaysia.