Plastic garbage in Malaysia; cleaning up nappies and toothbrushes at Redang Island
Full nappies, flip-flops, toothbrushes, and thousands of cigarette butts! This is not the summary of an evening that got a little worse than planned! This was our view from our sunbeds on the island of Redang. A beautiful dream island with the most beautiful blue sea we have ever seen, a white beach, and palm trees. Such a pity to see that more rubbish is left behind here with the year. That’s why we decided to roll up our sleeves and do our bit for the ‘ocean clean up’ on Redang Island.
Rats
We have been living in Malaysia for 1,5 years now, and we see more and more waste along the highway, on the streets, and in parks. I don’t remember seeing the waste container for paper and waste driving by here every week. Let alone a separate bin for plastic or glass! Strange really, because you often come across advertisements here encouraging people to use less plastic bags or straws. It’s a good thing that they do, but it’s all the more a shame to see all this junk lying on the street. So here in the city, we are used to it, and we also know that we can find a group of friends in the shape of rats there.
Plastic bottles
It was very disappointing that we would come across this mess on such a beautiful island. At one point, we noticed many plastic bottles in the sea and even a cup with fish who was caught and could not get out. Scandalous, of course, and not necessary, because what effort does it take to clean up your mess after you visit the beach? I do not think people do this on purpose, but that may be where a large part of the problem lies. Do people know that it’s extremely unhealthy for you (I wouldn’t let my child walk barefoot over that sand with all the shards of glass we came across) but it’s also super bad for nature?
Ocean cleaner
Perhaps not! And if that is the case, what is being done to teach people this knowledge? Fortunately, it is not so bad that Boyan Slat has to come along with his ocean cleaner, but it will not be as long before Malaysia is as polluted as the ‘plaice island’ the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. To try to prevent that from happening, on our last day we set the alarm clock at 6.30 in the morning and decided to clean up a few hours of rubbish.
Gloves
At first, it felt a bit like community service, but soon we got the hang of it and it was a very soothing job. At the reception of the hotel, I asked for two plastic bags, how ironic, and gloves. I didn’t like the idea to clean nappies with my bare hands. With a mini glove like that it felt a bit cleaner haha. The beach on Redang where we were staying is not that big, but very crowded. So we had quite some people watching us.
Rubbish
Jeroen even got help from an elderly Malaysian couple who wanted to have their picture taken with him. So more people took pictures and looked at us a bit strangely. After half an hour of rubbish, the bags started to fill up fast. A restaurant owner saw us busy and came up with new bags. He took the full bags, and we could go on again. In the meantime, you are sweating your ass off because even at seven o’clock in the morning, it is quite warm here when the sun starts shining. A good morning workout!
Apple chargers
After having filled two bags and a back hernia richer, we decided that it was enough. We came across all kinds of things on the beach; styrofoam, Apple chargers (we were still looking for them, that was great we found them here for free ;)) food, straws, plastic bottles, snorkels, slippers, and cigarettes. By cleaning up all this junk, you immediately see results, which makes it a lot more satisfying to do this. We hope that the people who saw us will start thinking about how they deal with their junk. Maybe a bit crazy, two of those Dutch people with their rubbish bags on a Malaysian island, but with the best of intentions! After all, we would like to come back here in ten years to enjoy a beautiful beach with an even more beautiful ocean!
- Every minute a rubbish truck full of plastic is dumped in the ocean
- In 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish
- Research shows that 52% of turtles eat plastic because they think they are jellyfish.
- Hundreds of thousands of turtles, whales, and other marine mammals die every year from ocean pollution