Chin Lee Ling (fourth, right) led the K2 Goes Green Recycling team at the meeting held at Chubs Grill, Kota Kinabalu on March 20. Leading the association’s delegation is its Sabah Chapter chairman, James Ong (centre).

KOTA KINABALU (March 22): Malaysia Budget & Business Hotel Association (mybha), Sabah Chapter is now on board supporting the K2 Goes Green Recycling Programme, an initiative of Life Water Industries Sdn Bhd (Life Water), a local bottled drinking water and carbonated drinks manufacturer which has been operating for the past 20 years.

The K2 Goes Green Recycling Programme, which is part of the corporate social responsibility of Life Water aims to reduce the amount of used polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or post-consumer PET bottles ending up in landfill.

Various recycling workshops and educational activities are being carried out targeting the public especially the younger population on the importance of recycling.

The programme sets out as its vision to achieve higher pet bottle recycling rate and ‘no littering’ rate among our communities and the future generation.

Under this collaborative programme with mybha, Sabah Chapter, used or post-consumer PET bottles will be properly disposed of in designated recycle bins, that is, the K2 Goes Green Recycle Bins which come complete with bin linings. Also provided are banner, ‘5 golden steps to recycling’ and other instructional tools.

Life Water will subsequently arrange to collect these recyclables from the participating hotels for crushing and baling ready to be shipped to a recycling centre to undergo further processing into preforms for the production of recycled bottles.

Recycling has been a part of the process adopted by Life Water, earning the beverage company the recognition as the “First rPET Bottled Water Manufacturer” in the Malaysia Book of Records last year.

“Our landfills are filling to capacity and each one of us must play our part in ways we can to help manage solid waste disposal for the authorities before they pose health hazards to our environment and our health,” said Chin Lee Ling who spearheads the K2 Goes Green Programme.

The Executive Director of Life Water added, “by not treating the post-consumer plastic bottles as waste, we are giving them a ‘infinity life’ through recycling, making them useful for our everyday life while keeping our environment clean.”

The recycling initiative is also in support of the national recycling of solid waste which currently stood at 33.17 per cent in 2022 while the recycling rate for post-consumer bottles at a low rate 16 per cent.

The K2 Goes Green Recycling Programme hopes to boost these recycling figures and help achieve the national recycling rate target of 40 per cent by 2025.

With the positive response from the hotels on recycling, we are confident of contributing towards a circular economy for a cleaner and greener tomorrow and urge everyone to start supporting hotels and institutions that are environment-conscious. The programme is open to accepting more such collaborations from institutions.

Last November, Horizon Hotel became the first hotel in Sabah to join the K2 Goes Green Programme. A total of 254.90 kg (estimated 17,843 bottles) of bottles had been collected since.

Thanks to the serious commitment of Horizon Hotel’s team led by its general manager, Stella Chong for the successful kick-start of the programme.

The programme will next invite the association of hotels, the schools and government agencies.

Chin pointed out “it is challenging and certainly not cheap to run the recycling programme due to the lack of recycling facilities locally, however, there is a need to start and build volume and reap economies of scale, for the sake of a cleaner and greener environment for the generations to come.”

Consumers are encouraged to follow five simple rules to recycling. Firstly, empty the bottle to avoid spillage and for hygienic storage. Secondly, remove cap (recyclable) and detach the labels (non-recyclables) to be disposed of separately. Thirdly, crush the bottle to save space; this can be done with ease manually. Fourthly, re-cap to retain its crushed form, and in it goes to the recycle bin. Every individual and institution can contribute to recycling for a cleaner environment with these simple acts.

Those interested to participate in the K2 Goes Green Recycling Programme are encouraged to call 012 648 4726 (Ms Kay).