Interloper View

Penang Government will be introducing a park and ride service for people staying in Prai and working on the Island.   This service will start on Mar 2011.  The commute will be from Seberang Jaya on the mainland to the factories in Bayan Lepas (including Sunshine in Bayan Baru). The free bus service will run 6am to 9am and from 4pm to 7pm on Mondays to Fridays. This is one of the Green initiatives of the Penang government as well as to help fight the increase in fuel prices.  This follows another initiative of no plastic bag for the supermarkets and fast food outlets.  This shows the political will of the local government to help save our environment and create greater awareness. Reference: http://relax-mind.blogspot.com/2011/01/free-bus-rides-for-penang-factory.html

I just recently found out that Penang has been very successful in performing PC parts  recycling, thanks to effort by Dell and its various partners. I thought I would share the collections points to further help the effort.  I converted the following handout to something that can be copied and pasted: No Pusat Kutipan Lokasi Tarikh Waktu 1 Sunshine Jelutong (Tel: 04-281 2222) 9-27, Jalan Lenggong, 11600 Jelutong Setiap hari Selasa kecuali hari cuti umum 7.00 pm - 9.30 pm 2 Sunshine Farlim Shopping Mall (Tel: 04-827 1111 Mr. Wong / Ms. Sim) 294, Jalan Thean Teik, 11500 Ayer Itam Setiap hari Khamis kecuali hari cuti umum 7.00 pm - 9.30 pm 3 Stor Pembersihan Kampung Jawa Baru (Tel: 04-228 4284 Mr. Bahari) Star MPPP, Jalan Kampung Jawa Baru, 101 50 Georgetown Setiap hari Isnin hingga hari Sabtukecuali hari cuti umum 8.00 am - 5.00 pm 4 Bahagian Perkhidma...

First I heard of 1 R, Recycle now I suddenly realize that there are 7 R that will help Earth recover. 1. Rethink It is time to rethink our lifestyle. We need to change our mindset. Everything has a limit, resources on earth are not inexhaustible. Think of about what you need to be happy and how much of it do you really need. Is that trip to the supermarket really necessary? Do we need the extra bottle of soda? Is it necessary to switch on the air conditioner? 2. Reuse What are the things we throw away that can be reused. Often times if you go the garbage dump, you may find a lot of thinks that are still in good order that can be reused. Take this to the charity home. Clothes we no longer wear can be given to the orphanage or old folks home. Often times we throw them away not because they are worn out but because they are out dated or we have outgrown them. Remember the cartoon Robots a couple of years back where he literally recycle parts from his cousins. ...

I just went through the 20 minutes video of The Story of Stuff. The video was very entertaining and informative how our consumption is affecting the world. I found the video from the following blog . This is a quote from the site on the video: The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever. I complete agree with the above.

Back when I was studying in the U.S., the cans from our can drinks can be returned to the convenience store and the stores will pay you a nickel (5 cents) for it. I know it is not much but this encouraged people to save the cans for recycling. Even if the person actually drinking does not bother to return the can, somebody will. We can use this concept to encourage more recycling.

With the increasing concern for the environment, more and more countries are promoting the need to recycle. To a certain degree, this has been successful because we see more and more people are more aware of such need. In fact quite a few are doing it to help their favorite charity and churches. However, it is not easy to be a good citizen. We know paper can be recycled. So we start buying soft drink and milk in TetraPak boxes but when we try to send this for recycling it is rejected. Next they tell us that glass bottles are also not recyclable. Then we go shopping and start bringing our own bags. But when we reach the checkout counter, the lady at the counter insist on using their plastic bags - I guess it is probably to promote their store since the logo is printed on it. While individual families/homes start recycling, we see businesses mixing all those recyclable tin cans (from soft drink) with dumping it with all the non-recyclable stuff. The amount of recyclable it...