This weekend the recycling rangers spent our time relaxing and swimming at the beautiful Perhentian Islands! Although it was a lovely place to visit one thing that wasn't so lovely was the amount of litter we saw. We had heard rumors about the trash build up and lack of recycling on the islands before we arrived but thought they were simply nasty rumors. This seemed to be somewhat true when we arrived at the jetty to take us to the tropical paradise as every traveler had to pay 5 ringgit to marine park protection to help the trash collection and clean up. However, funnily enough, as we paid these fees within 3 meters of us was a dirty collection of bottles and other trash items floating in the water...
Dirty dirty water. Lets hope our 5 rm goes to that?
Unfortunately the situation wasn't much better on the island with unsightly garbage barges and litter (mostly plastic bottles, plastic bags, and other recyclables) filling the waters. When research about these garbage barges we found an article from The Star published the 15th of June blaming these trash collection schemes on the tourists (for article: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/15/nation/4120173&sec=nation). However, after further exploration into the matter and asking some locals we found out that the majority of plastic trash bags collected on the floating rafts are produced by locals. The marine park is not collecting this trash and a lot of the time the bags fall off the rafts polluting the water. We found it upsetting that the newspaper and state government are placing the blame elsewhere rather than seeking alternatives to fix these problems and make sure the marine preservation fees are going to the right cause. This overload of barges and litter are beginning to the seriously damage the marine life of the island. It is especially damaging to the turtles who mistake the floating trash for food.
Empty garbage barge floating close to shore reading to be filled with trash
SAVE THIS ADORABLE TURTLE!
DON'T LET IT EAT YOUR PLASTIC BAGS! RECYCLE THEM!
We hope that the marine conversation fee begins to make a difference on these islands so they can be sustained for future generations to enjoy!
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