love the earth no matter what

i will normally keep some recycle shopping bags in the car. so i brought tesco's bags when we wanna shop at jusco yesterday. for mom, jusco's one are meant for wet market only now since it doesn't look good no more. ok, fine.

at first mom was worried as if the staff don't want to accept different bags other than theirs... walaweiii!!! so i told mom that when we wanna save the environment, it doesn't matter whether we have to use the shop's bags only~ the most important thingy is that we didn't use ANY plastic bags! :)

and in our case, it shouldn't be a problem for jusco even though we use different recycle bags. we bought things from them anyway, right?

so how about you people: do you have problems using different recycle bags at different shops?

anyhow i haven't try this locally though, as i find people here are quite weird. and i didn't see shops here encouraged their customers not to use plastic bags. i saw the local the store supermarket has started to sell their own recycle shopping bags. but i still see plastics being used widely. like i said earlier, people find it weird seeing me using my own bags.

i truly hope that the local authority will start to do something. this is serious. we could see people in other states have already used to 'save the plastic' campaign. i know in penang, consumers will be charged if they didn't bring their own bags and still use the shop's plastics on every monday, while in selangor is every saturday. i merely don't understand why they never wanna practice this campaign here... duh!

kuE's pledge

i had a dating with my hero last thursday, but didn't blog about it until i remember that i had to write a movie review about the prince caspian. what's more when i found out that sweettooth is into saving the environment too. good job gal! i am so proud of you. well i am sure sheryl saw me carrying my fav blue pvc shopping bag (refer pic) that day. i love it sooo much and its so convenient. its from guardian. i got it for free during their opening promo sales at a local store here, when i purchased more than RM50 i think. i should have get more.

as you could see from the pic, all the items that we bought were placed in shopping bags except for the take-away pizzas (far end).

i was more than happy when i was asked by a giordano shop' cashier whether i wanna join their "go green campaign"; where i would be entitled for another 5% rebates if i didn't use any of their plastic bags when shopping with them! oh... i guess that was when she realized that i was carrying my own shopping bags. then i was like... wohoo!!!... what a bargain... ya lor... just imagine people-- i have already been given some discounts of RM84.85, and to top it up i got a rebate for RM11.80 (please refer the proof of receipt as per the attachment, or click on the image for a larger view). kudos giordano!

kuE's note:
go here to read more about my pledge on saving the environment.

HDPE scrap

nowadays scrap is a common thing in our lives. you have scrap metal, scrap plastic, scrap rubber and so on. however today i will be discussing about scrap plastic. scrap is products that can be recycled for further use. as pollution is a problem and since plastics are used in every day to day product the need of recycling plastics is important. in case of recycling, HDPE plastic is one of the largest plastics recycled. what is HDPE? its full form is High Density Polyethylene. did you know that HDPE actually comes from petroleum!

Raw polymers Ltd. are in the business of collecting or purchasing various types of plastics from different type of industries. on the other hand HDPE Scrap are in the industry of distributing and sourcing Scrap HDPE. i have said that HDPE plastic is quite familiar so where are they actually used. they are used in many packaging applications as it protects the product from water and chemical resistance. it is also used like a film in snack food packages and cereal box liners. as HDPE is widespread, providing recycled HDPE will be frequent. these two companies are protecting the environment by recycling HDPE plastics and since plastics are harming the environment such as producing land and water pollution. tons of plastics are dumped in scrap-yard with other waste products, although there have been projects to isolate the plastics so it makes it easier to process them. you can even buy scrap HDPE milk bottles at the site. so next time when you use plastics especially HDPE you will know it has been recycled.

this is a sponsored post by HDPE Scrap.

save the environment, save the world!

the day we saved quite a number of plastic bags

i know i know some of you people may feel boring seeing me write about the waste of plastics everytime. but thats the truth... i am the one who supports the environment as far as i could. i taught my kids about how important for us to save the environment. and if my kids can understand it, i am sure you people can teach your generations too.

i brought a big shopping bag today instead of the normal handbag. and inside it contained some other fabric and pvc bags too. its the usual thing that i would buy things without plan when we go to shopping malls, so the bags really saved my day. i hope that you people know what i meant ;)

i was so glad when i was paying for disney's school bag for megat, at the same time he told the cashier in chinese (for those who dunno, megat goes to chinese school) that we DO NOT need the plastic bag. ya lor... the bag already covered with a clear plastic carrier, so there's really no point for us to get another plastic bag what, right? another example is when puteri and i bought some accessories at an accessories shop, for sure we do not need any plastics bags. when you think about it people... accessories i.e. earing, hair clips and sort are small, so you guess it, we just placed them in our shopping bags! but of course we kept the sales receipts as the proof of our purchases.

so eventually the above pics explained everything. besides that, i also carried some of our buyings myself in the extra bags that i brought. so what are you waiting for people, blog about it, teach your generations about it, spread it out to everyone... support environment...

kuE's related links:

• a friendly reminder to save the environment
  
• we care

a friendly reminder to save the environment

alhamdulillah... we passed thru the third day of ramadhan. a few hours before break fast, we went to local pasar ramadhan (food market), that sprout like wild mushroom after the rain. first stop was the one near the railway station. puteri likes the cucur udang there. then we thought of driving around town. unfortunately thats not a good idea. you know... it was saturday. people who tense to go over there were more than normal days. if we really wanna go there during weekends, we have to go much early next time. so we headed to the one in talang instead. we managed to get some kuih i.e. kuih limas (my most favourite especially during ramadhan) and curry puff; though before the rain started to fall heavily.

as usual, i brought along our own plastic containers with the green bag by cold storage. and as usual too, some people showed us the obvious kinda look... wtf!

do you care about how many plastic bags are given to you whenever you shop? if you don’t then i suggest you stop reading and be on your way. this could sound self-righteous!

i have always been worried by the amount of plastic bags being given out to me whenever i do grocery shopping, also other shopping at malls. almost annoyed in some cases, unless i know they are the biodegradable type like in ikea. i mean, there are some cashiers/till attendants who simply give away way too many bags than necessary. to the point where i have to tell him/her to stop doing it. why can’t they consolidate the items so they fill the bags more? okay, so you don’t want to mix the cleaning solution with the veggies, that i understand. but to use just one bag for a mere 2 or 3 small items is pure complacency.

plastic polyethylene bags are essentially non-biodegradable, petrochemical products. that means they are not eco-friendly. basically they contribute to killing our environment. POLLUTION. in the UK some hypermarkets like waitrose charge a fee should you want your purchases bagged in plastic. this encourages customers to bring their own carriers, much like the green bag pictured here. you can get these bags from quite a number of our local stores now i.e. cold storage, village grocer, carrefour, even giant.

“according to the united states EPA, only 1% of plastic bags were recycled in 2000. when one ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil is saved.” wikipedia.

i for one have started using reusable carriers. i believe everyone of us can effect change, no matter how small. REDUCE, REUSE & RECYCLE. care to join the revolution?

go here to learn more about a '100 ways to save the environment'.

kuE's related link: "we care"

"we care"

The media has been encouraging us (sporadically) to recycle. We hear repeated jingles over the radio to recycle our rubbish but how far has this got us? I am not sure such recycling campaigns have been very successful for the following reasons:

1. Insufficient rubbish bins that encourage us to separate our garbage; maybe this should be compulsory in office complexes and shopping complexes.

2. Not all schools have separate garbage bins for different types of rubbish, and therefore recycling is not taught from young.

3. An attitude change has not taken place – we definitely need a mindset shift to do this. We need to achieve critical mass on communication on recycling from all fronts; from the media, government councils, community centers, recycling centers, companies and businesses.


Recycling should be lead by large companies’ i.e. multinational companies that have experience overseas on recycling. For example, UK based supermarkets charge a small amount to customers for plastic bags they use when they make purchases. With this in mind, a lot of customers actually bring their own shopping bags to and place their purchases in the bags that they brought. Can such MNCs take on educating the public as a corporate responsibility to the community?? Which is the first hyper market that dares to charge customers for plastic bags first? Maybe, give them a few cents discount for plastic bags not used may be an idea.

I did this when I shop for food especially here. I said here because I tense to forget sometimes when I did food-shopping elsewhere. I know that this is not good. I still have to set my mind to practice this no matter where I shop. That’s why I will normally have plastic boxes ready in my 4wd no matter where I go, whether far or near. In case I have to pack some food, I already have some containers ready in hand. People around me would be very surprised when I brought plastic containers to pack food that I bought. The pic on the right shown the kuih-muih I bought in the evening for break fast. So did you realize something here people. I could save our environment. In fact the plastic containers were so convenient that I could just place them on our dining table, ready to be served. It’s also with plastic cover, to avoid from the food being aired or attacked by insects etc.

We must change our attitudes towards waste disposal and recycling. The next time before you discard litter into the bin, look at what you hold in your hands. They are most likely to be made of paper, plastic, glass, metal or organic waste which are all recyclable one way or another. Yes, I agree with many that sometimes it is just too difficult to recycle when facilities such as recycling bins are scarce and few to come by. A lot more can be done by the government to promote recycling as a direct and effective method of reducing waste going to landfills.


What you can do to reduce use of plastic:

• Bring a nylon or cloth bag when you go shopping to save the use of plastic bags.

• Recycle plastic bags by taking along plastic bags from home when going shopping rather then using new plastic bags.

• Choose paper bags if you have an option to choose between paper bags or plastic bags.

• Composting is an efficient and environmentally friendly way of discarding home bulk waste which accounts for large proportion of household waste.

• An alternative is to use pots to compost if you don’t have a big garden. Get ten pots. Start by filling one pot with alternate layers of soil and household waste. Depending on family size, estimate three days per pot. Keep it moist. By the end of the month, the first pot will be ready for use in the garden or to store. Start the process again in the first pot.


Recycle everything you can; newspaper, cans, glass, aluminum foil and pans, motor oil, crap metal, etc. Click here to find out more about the 101 things you can do to conserve resources and protect the environment.

kuE's note:
i) this post can be found here too ;)
ii) the green "i care" bag was a courtesy of cold storage, gurney plaza.