| Universiti Putra Malaysia

UPM fosters recycling practice among Serdang community

By Khairul Ziana Kinainah



SERDANG, Nov 15 - University Community Transformation Centre (UCTC), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), organised the Recycling Day 2014 programme to promote recycling practice among the Serdang community.

The programme with the theme "Recycling is Everyone's Responsibility" was aimed to bring awareness to all Serdang community members on the importance of environmental preservation.

UCTC Director, Dr. Hawa ZE Jaafar, said the practice has yet become a habit among Malaysians because it involves many parties.



"It involves many parties, from individuals who produce waste, parties who collect recyclable materials, parties who recycle and parties that carry out recycling awareness programmes.

"Therefore, UPM UCTC is seen to play an important role in mediating the campus community and the relevant parties in managing daily garbage regularly and continuously," she said.

Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Secretary General, Dato' Seri Abdul Razak Arpah, hoped that the public service members would practise recycling and spread the knowledge pertaining to recycling practice to their family members and their community.

"This programme is aimed to support the UPM green policy in promoting recycling culture, thus fosters collaboration between UPM staff and the Serdang community.



"I am confident that the country will achieve the target of 22% recycling rate by 2020 through awareness campaigns and public education," he said at the launch of the programme which was jointly organised by the Ministry of Urban Wellness, Housing and Local Government and the Subang Jaya Municipal Council.

Among other activities held at the programme were cycling around UPM campus, corporate and public 3R hunt, awards presentation to schools that are active in the Recycling Clubs, exhibition booths, drawing and coloring competitions and various cultural performances from the community members.

Meanwhile, participants were also exposed to the exhibitions and demonstrations using recyclable materials in urban agriculture practices, interesting dishes in food preparation, dengue awareness programme, used cooking oil recycling process, Serdang Biomass Town, Anaerobic digestion and Vermicomposting projects, Green Practice Workshops: Senior Citizens and Sustainable Consumption Culture and the Green Mandate.

This regular programme was aimed to reduce 40% of household waste by 2015 and 60% of the Serdang community would separate waste through households waste separation by 2016.

Other goals of the programme were to raise the community's reputation as a recycling and clean community, saving at least 10% of the maintenance and management cost within a year, also for the community members to send their used cooking oil to a community recycling centre.


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