Gaya islanders exchange trash for chicken drumsticks

 By Olivia Miwil - September 17, 2023 @ 2:31pm

A resident smiles after collecting chickemn drumsticks during the ‘Plastic for Food’ programme at Dewan Sekolah Kebangsaan Pulau Gaya. - NSTP/MOHD ADAM ARININ

KOTA KINABALU: Pulau Gaya villager Salina Banda is thankful that she could receive 12 kg of chicken drumsticks in exchange for rubbish in the "Plastic for Food" programme.

The 33-year-old housewife and her family members took less than an hour to collect 12 bags of trash from the area in front of their house.

While the exchange was beneficial for Salina's household, she hoped that there would be services to manage their rubbish disposal, as they have to resort to burning the trash.

"The debris is always washed onto the island, especially during high tide.

"Of course, some of that rubbish is also thrown by the Islanders as there is no proper disposal site nor system for us," said the mother of two when met at the programme here.

The programme was the first held by the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru (Star) hotel in conjunction with its 40th anniversary.

In collaboration with Jetsin Sdn Bhd, the organiser contributed 3.6 tonnes of chicken drumsticks.

Present were hotel chairman Datuk Edward Dagul, managing director Conor Hadlington, Jetsin managing director Datuk Koh Chung Jade, as well as Skuad Komuniti Prihatin Sabah Association chairman Taufik Ismail.

Edward said the programme was to create and raise awareness on taking care of the environment among the islanders and city folks.

"We can work together to have a clean and healthy environment. We understand with the changing climate (effects), (being) green is the way forward in our life.

"This programme is a start, we will do this on a quarterly basis, to work with everybody including the Kota Kinabalu City Hall."