Tonnes of garbage cleared from tourist spots

GEORGE TOWN: A refrigerator and a bulldozer tyre were among 6.4 tonnes of trash found dumped at three tourist sites along Penang’s famous beaches.

Volunteers also picked up 51 condoms, 128 diapers, 222 tampons and 53 syringes during a four-hour clean-up to give the island’s northern coast a new image.

Some 2,800 volunteers fanned out along the 5.7km stretch of Gurney Drive, Tanjung Bungah and Batu Ferringhi from 7am yesterday to collect the garbage in an event held in conjunction with Earth Day.

Full of rubbish: A pile of rubbish at Gurney Drive during the programme Sunday.

According to data released by Universiti Sains Malaysia marine and coastal studies centre researchers later, 5.7 tonnes of garbage were collected from Gurney Drive (including the refrigerator and tyre found strewn on the rocks), 0.3 tonnes from Batu Ferringhi and 0.4 tonnes from Tanjung Bungah. More than 48,000 items were in the entire pile of garbage.

Among those who turned up for the event was housewife A. Nanda, 40, who brought along her five children.

“I want them to start learning the importance of keeping Penang clean so that a good image is projected to Malaysians and tourists.

“This is important as Penang was once given the Darul Sampah (rubbish haven) tag and many people still think that the state is dirty,” she said.

Nanda, who stays in Relau, said she chose to collect garbage from Gurney Drive because she could not stand to see rubbish thrown all over the popular seafront.

“I was shocked to find diapers, undergarments, condoms and lubrication bottles. I showed the items to my children to educate them that these should not be here in the first place,” she said.

College student Ho Yu Jing, 18, who came with his coursemates, said they found tissue and party balloons along the Tanjung Bungah beach.

“Youngsters love to celebrate their birthdays along the beach but they leave the trash behind after partying.

“I am glad to be part of the clean-up team. It gives us a sense of satisfaction to see the beaches clean again,” he said.

An American tourist, who only wished to be known as Albert, said he sustained injuries to his calf after being cut by a broken glass bottle during the clean-up.

“I found the bottle buried in the sand and placed it in a gunny sack but I did not realise that the glass was sharp and the edge was poking out from the sack,” he said before he was sent to the hospital for treatment.

Pulau Tikus assemblyman Koay Teng Hai said the number of volunteers participating in the event exceeded the target of 2,500 people, and the state government might consider applying for it to be listed as the biggest clean-up operation in the Malaysia Book of Records.

The Star