Back then I thought only UMS (Univ. Malaysia Sabah) is doing the anti – polystyrene war thing. But they use an equally environmentally unfriendly product to replace polystyrene container, plastic containers, telling students to recycle it by using it over and over again when they pack food from the café. Ha! From what I see, all those plastic containers either ended up heaped and unwashed in the washroom, or thrown away despite the fact that they cost RM0.50. Next, the café felt that the plastic container campaign is putting a strain on their budget so they switched to plastic bags and they still charge us RM0.50 o_O; While this cheaper alternative reduces the mess in the washroom, it doesn’t change the fact that again, they are using an environmentally unfriendly product.
Which is why, it was a pleasant surprise to find that they are using either hawker-style oil-based paper, or a biodegradable container made of palm oil waste here in USM (Univ. Sains Malaysia). The campaign was started in main campus (Penang) around early 2008 before extended to the health campus (Kelantan).
It’s not just the fact that polystyrene is environmentally unfriendly, it’s also because they have a long term effect on health that this campaign was issued.
A poster on anti – polystyrene container campaign: The White Coffin.
Save the Earth! And ourselves, of course. Peace ^_^
By the way, this was my lunch that day from the USM café. Chicken chop, nothing to shout about, looks like banana fritters at first glance, but edible.
And cool chairs in the library. Nice to zzz in...
