‘Public support vital for church’s recycling project’
MIRI: A recycling project initiated by Tudan Methodist Church to help hardcore poor families in the Tudan area has been able to achieve its target with support from the community.
Church pastor-in- charge Rev Nicholas Tan said since the project kicked off in June last year, they have received and also collected an average of RM5,000 worth of recyclable items each month.
“Initially, we made rounds at residential areas with the aim of collecting recyclables, but we soon realised that it was harder than expected because people don’t clear out their stuff every day.
“We then decided to only go and collect items when contacted by the public which, as it turned out, was more efficient and timesaving, with more items collected on each trip as well,” he told The Borneo Post recently.
Tan said once the recyclable items are collected, they would be sorted out according to type and sold to a recycling company.
He added that among the types of items accepted by the company are newspapers, any printed material including magazines, plastics, detergent and shampoo bottles, cooking oil bottles, plastic bags, glass bottles, aluminium cans, canned food tins and electrical appliances.
“Sometimes, factories and warehouses in the area would call us to collect industrial recyclables from them, which help us earn more money.
“There are some months when we only make about a thousand ringgit but there are months when we can earn up to RM5,000, especially prior to festivals people would be clearing their homes of unwanted items.”
Tan said every sen raised from the sale of recyclable items is channelled to a fund set up by the church to help the hardcore poor in several areas.
“Some of the funds are used to cover tuition fees for the children who perform poorly in their studies. We have hired tutors to conduct extra classes for Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mathematics from Monday to Wednesday.
“Another expense is subsidising school bus fees for the students, which so far adds up to RM1,800 per month for 20 students at RM90 each,” Tan said.
He said subsidising the school bus fees is one way to encourage parents, especially those struggling financially, to continue sending their children to school.
“We currently support 10 hardcore poor families through the fund. Each family receives RM150 worth of food items each month in the form of rice, sugar, cooking oil, biscuits and other daily necessities.
“We don’t directly give them money because we want to make sure it is properly spent,” he added.
The church’s collection truck covers areas from Tudan, Senadin, Permyjaya, Pujut 1 to Pujut 8 (including Pujut Corner and Jalan Miri By-Pass), Piasau, Krokop and Bakam, from Monday to Friday except on public holidays.
For more information, contact Santi David at 013- 8139884.