Sandakan's coastal waste situation worsening, says NGO

 By Olivia Miwil - October 21, 2020 @ 11:09am

Kampung Berhala litter trap here showed huge amounts of polysterene food packaging boxes and mineral water bottles. NSTP/Courtesy of Future Alam Borneo

SANDAKAN: A preliminary study by Future Alam Borneo on the waste situation here has shown worrying pollution levels along Sandakan's coastline.

Its member Anton Ngui said recently the group launched a floating litter trap at Kampung Berhala here as part of their Sandakan Plastic Solutions Project to document the types of rubbish being thrown into the sea.

Supported by community partners Yayasan Hasanah and Dutch NGO Clear Rivers, the year-long project looks at the problems in-depth and offers community-scale solutions.

It is also meant to educate the public on the larger health and environmental risks of this chronic rubbish habit among the community in the district.

"Collection from the first week of the litter trap revealed huge amounts of polystyrene food packaging boxes and mineral water bottles.

"Both items are impossible or very difficult to recycle or reuse," he said in a statement, adding he is also concerned that with a pandemic year, people will spend more time at home and purchase more consumable goods using single-use packaging.

However, he said that producers of PET mineral water and single-use packaging, especially polystyrene food boxes, should be aware that in their pursuit of commercial profit as they also have to share some of the responsibility for the pollution.

Ngui added that they had also studied the communal waste situation at Kampung Sim Sim which also showed the water and sediments were harmful to human and marine eco-system health.

From the findings, the laboratory traced sources of micro-plastics were likely ropes, nets, tyres, plastic bags, bottles, coatings from wires and other household appliances.

"Results revealed faecal coliform and E.coli bacteria, especially within the vicinity of the houses, to be highly elevated.

"This could be attributed to the fact that Sabah's water villages do not have any sewerage systems installed and household wastewater is discharged directly into the sea," he said.

Ngui said the consequent impact of these waste streams to the natural environment, and of course marine life that communities rely on, cannot be underestimated.