A TOTAL of 719.7kg of garbage was collected in just three hours by 50 volunteers along Pantai Remis in Selangor last Saturday.
The voluntary work was an initiative by non-governmental organisation Glimpse of Malaysia, under the Clean-Up Programme.
Its founder, Kovin Sivanasvaran said this was probably the largest amount of trash collected by 50 volunteers in the country this year.
“The bulk of the 719.7kg waste was picked up along the beach which include domestic waste (568.2kg), plastic bottles (57.6kg), glass (86.3kg), metal and tin (5.6kg) and straws (1,500).
“A total of 125 bags were used to collect and segregate the rubbish. With the help of Smart Selangor, the trash was sent to the recycling centre.
“The same programme was also conducted at Ulu Chepor waterfalls in Perak, where seven participants collected 28kg of trash,” he added.
Kovin said the massive clean-up programme would be organised on a monthly basis as it was a good opportunity to collect data on waste problems and to create public awareness on the seriousness of this issue, which also affects marine life.
“For those who are interested in joining us to make this earth a better place, they could visit our Instagram account, glimpseofmalaysia, for further details of the programme,” he added.
In May, Glimpse of Malaysia collected a total of 257.66kg trash in seven locations, comprising Batang Kali, Selangor; Kota Kinabalu, Sabah; Miri, Sarawak; Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan; Kota Baru, Kelantan; Dublin, Ireland and Perth, Australia.