By WU VUIDE
KOTA KINABALU: The public which have discarded recyclable used glass and plastic bottles can now send them to the newly-launched Community Initiative for Recycling, Circular Learning and Education (Ripple Centre) at the Luyang multipurpose hall.
Chairperson of Ripple, Michelle De La Harpe, said the centre operates 100 per cent on volunteerism and the public can drop their glass and plastic bottles every Sunday from 9am to 12pm starting next month.
“Volunteers will then segregate and clean all the bottles before shredding or crushing them,” said Michelle during the launch of the centre by Kapayan Assemblywoman Datuk Jannie Lasimbang.
With support from the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia–Sustainable Development Goals (APPGM-SDG), she said the centre aims to establish a community learning centre as a hub for recycling, education, household waste management and environmental sustainability.
“Fifteen people from the B40 group and jobless will be recruited in August to be trained with the skills to run local recycling initiatives,” she added.
Activities in the project include repairing and expanding a community learning centre, preparing mobile collection bins, setting up community drop-off points, and conducting workshops on recycling, SDGs and waste segregation, she said.
“This project also helps tackle the issue of poor recycling infrastructure and awareness by creating a structured system for recyclable collection, reducing waste to the landfill and pollution while encouraging community-led environmental action.
“It also creates micro-livelihoods and supports youths and women in building eco-entrepreneurship,” said Michelle.
This project ensures long-term sustainability by embedding recycling habits in the community, empowering locals to manage drop-off points and logistics beyond the grant period with APPGM-SDG, she said.
“Ripple will continue to support product upcycling, market linkages and explore integration into municipal waste policy for future scalability,” said Michelle.
Since Ripple was set up in 2019 and up to September 2024, they have received 41,284.80 kilos of glass bottles, where 208,509 were diverted from the landfill through their recycling glass project.
“We were able to reduce 6,880.80 carbon dioxide emissions by recycling. Impact to the community saw 707 volunteers, 1,707 visitors to the site and 588 workshops held for the project,” said Michelle.
For the plastic recycling project held between April 2023 and July 2024, she said Ripple prevented 22.06 tonnes of plastics from being sent to the landfill.
“As part of the project incentive, a total of RM28,654.45 worth of rewards were distributed to the communities, where RM2 per kilo was paid to the public who sent properly cleaned plastics for recycling.
“Ripple also generated RM30,056.60 in sales of recycled products to cover some of its operational expenses,” she said.
Also present were Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry Permanent Secretary Datuk Josie Lai, and Project Director Tressie Yap.
