Malaysia's recycling rate is still low

SHAH ALAM: Malaysia's recycling rate is still far from the target of 22% by 2020 set by the government.
Solid Waste Corporation (SWcorp) chief executive officer Datuk Ab Rahim Md Noor said the current rate is only 10.5% compared to other developed countries which have reached more than 40%.
Speaking at the opening of the "Go Green Selangor 2015! Let's Starts 3R!" programme, organised by SWcorp here today, he said that while many Malaysians are aware of the importance of the environment, their response in action has not reached the expected level.
In view of this, he said many activities have to be taken to ensure the recycling rate is achieved.
He said they organised the national level school recycling competition to educate students on the importance of the environment at a young age.
"Early education on the importance of the environment is a good initiative to educate the students and create a society that practices the 3R activities, which are reduce, reuse, and recycle" he added.
He said at present 2,065 schools in the country have set up recycling clubs and urged the others to do so as well.
"With all these efforts, hopefully we can help the government to achieve the 22% recycling rate by 2020 to become a developed country," he added.