Transforming 1000 Lives through Waste

Islands are commonly known as tropical paradises, Mantanani Island in Sabah is no exception - from its pristine beaches, crystal blue waters, to the stunning view of Mount Kinabalu from afar.

Today, we celebrate an impactful effort: The daily waste collection team has accumulated and cleared 15 tonnes of trash from January to March!

As the waste management programme carries on, we'd like to share with you a few compelling reasons why having a proper waste management system is vital:

• Protects the environment: When we manage waste properly, it reduces pollution and contamination in its surroundings (improves air and water quality). Also, recycling helps mitigate the harm and reduces the amount of waste in the landfill.
  
  
• Improves the population's health: Having less waste accumulated in the environment can lessen the risks of humans contracting diseases. Bacteria growth is likely to spike if junk or debris is not disposed of properly, causing the risk of illness in humans who come in contact with the trash.

We can all do our part. Responsibly disposing of waste can reduce the environmental impact.

Thank you for your contribution and support to our programme!

Because of Mantanani Island's remote location, the local communities has poor access to facilities.

They only get electricity from 6pm to 6am every day. There is no piped water, no centralised sewage treatment, no healthcare facilities, and there was no waste management system in place.

Before this waste management programme was established, the local islanders' only solution to get rid of waste was by burning, burying, or dumping the trash into the ocean.

Now, besides daily waste collection, this programme also provides alternative income to the locals. Currently, 10 local islanders are hired to help with the programme as they delegate and efficiently collect the waste from the villages.

In January and February 2022, the team has collected up to 10,239 kg of waste. Months of collected recyclables were recently transported to the mainland, which was then brought to the recycling centre. 

The waste management programme transforms the lives of the local islanders and protect the oceans from pollution. Thank for your continuous support in this impactful programme.

Located 25 km off the coast of Sabah, Malaysia, Mantanani Island is home to a population of 1,024 islanders, most of who are of Bajau-Ubian descent.  

What started off as a study to understand the waste management practices on the island back in 2017 has now evolved into a proper and functioning waste management system for the local communities on the island which started since 2018.  

In 2021 alone, approximately 65 tonnes of waste were collected by the daily waste collection team, where 78% of the waste collected was made up of food waste.  

In addition, a total of 78,178 plastic bottles were collected and recycled in the past year, which prevented the bottles from entering the oceans and harming our marine ecosystem. 

This year, we hope to continue to build awareness and knowledge for the local communities on segregation, provide more materials to run the programme efficiently, and advocate for the government to provide more support on this effort.  

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for always supporting our programme even from afar. Your contribution helps us to continue the programme – keeping the village clean, preventing waste from entering the oceans, and transforming the lives of the Mantanani Island community. 

All aboard, and off they go!

The boat was filled from top to bottom. What you see is 2,011.1 kg of trash collected from a small island village in a month. Can you imagine how much it'd be if it were from a city?

The Mantanani Waste Management & Recycling Programme provides a proper disposal system for those living in Kampong Mantanani, with the assistance from the local communities.

We hope this continuous effort in running the programme will get island communities closer to having a feasible and long-term solution on waste management for islands across Malaysia.

Thank you for your kind support to our programme!

A challenging season for everyone, no doubt.

Our Waste Management Programme had to be put to halt for a few weeks due to a few Covid-19 cases stirred on Mantanani Island. Now we have resumed operation with stricter SOPs. 

As our waste management team goes house to house daily to collect household waste, it can put them in high risk.

Living on a remote and small island has its vulnerability to all sorts of threats, and Covid-19 is no exception. We are closely monitoring the situation in the kampongs and supporting the community in any way we can to cope with the situation.