The government must distribute free rubbish bins to all shops and enforce their usage — Raveen Veerasenan Jeyakumar

Malay Mail

2 days ago

JUNE 11 — All local councils in the country, together with assistance from their respective state governments, must distribute free rubbish bins to all shops and premises that still don't have bins to dispose of their garbage.
All these shops should be strictly enforced by their local authorities to only place their rubbish inside their bins and place said bins in front of and a little to the side of their respective shops.
Periodic spot-checks to ensure compliance must also be done.
Given the poor attitude of many Malaysians towards littering, rubbish dumping and general environmental cleanliness, such governmental actions are very much-needed.
Awareness campaigns aren't at all effective in such cases. The government cannot expect shop owners to willingly buy their own bins, let alone only place their rubbish in front of their respective shops.
The main, longstanding problem is that shop workers all over the country, both in towns and cities, irresponsibly and randomly throw their rubbish bags at road junctions and back alleys at any point during the day.
The main reason given is that those particular sites are where all rubbish bags are usually placed for routine collection by rubbish trucks.
Such actions further encourage other irresponsible individuals to randomly litter and/or dump their own rubbish at those particular sites.
If there's one thing that tourists, both foreign and local, value and that leaves a lasting impression on them, it's the cleanliness of their visited places and countries. — Picture via Facebook/Kota Kinabalu City Hall
All this ruins the environmental cleanliness of our towns and cities, poses a threat to public health, and tarnishes the image of our country as a whole, particularly towards foreign tourists.
The proper, hygienic way to handle this is for only the rubbish collection workers to come and take those rubbish bags out of the individual bins at each shop and place them at the collection sites only at the time of collection by the rubbish trucks.
And so, the relevant departments in local councils throughout the country must work together to ensure that free rubbish bins are distributed to all shops and premises and strictly ensure that the rubbish is only placed inside said bins and that those bins are always placed in front of the shops.
The excuse of insufficient funds by the government to implement this initiative is completely unacceptable given that it's crucial for the sake of public health, environmental cleanliness, and greatly enhancing the image of the country as being clean.
If there's one thing that tourists, both foreign and local, value and that leaves a lasting impression on them, it's the cleanliness of their visited places and countries.
So, the government at all levels should take this particular issue very seriously given how crucial tourism is to our country's economy and in light of the upcoming Visit Malaysia Year 2026 campaign.
Also, other long overdue, crucial actions that'll go a long way towards improving Malaysia's general environmental cleanliness include installing more CCTV cameras at rubbish dumping hotspots and greatly expediting the banning of single-use plastics in all states.
It's already 2025. A developing country like Malaysia with ambitions to achieve first-world status shouldn't still be having environmental cleanliness problems.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.