KOTA KINABALU: Over 1,800kg of trash was collected within two hours during a clean-up at Semporna’s Pulau Larapan.
Organised by Reef Check Malaysia and Kampung Larapan Youth Club, the initiative was held in collaboration with Green Semporna, WWF-Malaysia and Amwil Densel Management on Thursday.It involved 64 participants and was part of World Clean-Up Day, said Reef Check Malaysia in a statement.
“The Pulau Larapan community here has expressed concerns about ocean plastic in our waters.“The environmental pollution also affected how the island looked, so this initiative was taken to help create awareness,” said one of the island’s representatives, Moktaruddin Bustamin.
The clean-up was also an activity under the garbage management pilot project for Pulau Larapan, carried out with Reef Check Malaysia and SC Johnson.
Garbage management programme coordinator Mad Rinta Parintamin said they were replicating a similar programme from the Pulau Mantanani community.
“At present, some 60 houses have been involved in (household) garbage collection activities daily since March.
“The result was 1,027kg of trash successfully collected from March to April to prevent it from ending up in the sea,” he added.
The aim was to get all homes to participate in garbage management so that no one would throw their trash into the sea.
This is also important to prevent pollution that could destroy coral reefs around the island because Pulau Larapan has the largest coverage of reefs in the Semporna district.