Press statement by Ms. Josephine Tan Mei Ling, General Manager of Penang Green Council on 16 th October 2020:

Despite the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it did not deter people from playing their roles to keep our beach clean instead they felt they had to do more. The pandemic was an eye-opener that time waits for no one and if climate
actions are not taken now, then when? Under the support of YB. Phee Boon Poh, Penang State Exco for Welfare, Caring Society and Environment and endorsement from Penang Green Council, we managed to put up a cleanliness educational signboard along Pantai Bayan Mutiara, where a group of volunteers from Beach Cleanup Penang effortlessly carry out their weekly beach clean-up activities before Movement Control Order.

The signboard aims to create awareness on the importance of keeping our beaches clean and empower people to be the ‘eyes and ears’ of the beach to stop littering habits.  It is because the beach belongs to not only us humans, but also for other living organisms living and depending on it for survival.

This initiative is also supported by Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang (MBPP) by providing garbage bins along the beach for people to dispose their rubbish responsibly after their activities.

In conjunction with both Malaysia Day (16 September 2020) and International Coastal Cleanup Day (19 September 2020), two clean-up activities were organized on Pantai Bayan Mutiara respectively.

In the collaboration with Impactlution, Penang Green Council also called for every citizen of Penang to take part differently in this year International Coastal Cleanup Day by dedicating their 10 minutes per day to collect rubbish right where they are because every area we clean up means less trash get swept into the waterways and into the ocean. With this 10-minutes initiative, we hope everybody can cultivate this habit for cleaner beaches and neighborhoods, even after International Coastal Cleanup Day.

After the 10-minutes clean up, people are also encouraged to audit the waste collected and upload the data onto Impactlution website. With the data collected, it will provide valuable input about our current litter problem, particularly plastic wastes in Malaysia.

Watch some of the footage we took where our volunteers worked effortlessly auditing the collected waste after the beach clean-up. It might be tiring but we are sure they all left with smiles on their faces. Follow Penang Green Council’s YouTube channel today!