THIS is an open letter to all our fellow Malaysians and the fast food outlets in the country, especially McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc.

The world is dying and even our children are aware of this reality. We are doing very little to help save the planet and our beloved nation. Our air is constantly polluted and this worsens from year to year. Equally important is the damage to our environment, our food and water sources. A major concern is the plastic that is in our food sources, especially sea food sources. Much of the plastic comes from our heavy use and abuse of plastics with careless disposal, often ending up in the sea. Most of us are currently consuming plastic in our foods.

There are many sources of plastic waste, from our fascination with disposable water bottles to plastic bags to ‘tapau’ food and drinks. One serious source of plastic is plastic straws. We use millions and millions of plastic straws every year. A conservative estimate is that we use more than 20 million plastic straws a week. For example if one third of Malaysians eat out twice a week and order one drink each time with a plastic straw, we would be using more than 20 million straws a week, more than 1 billion straws a year. As mentioned, these are conservative estimates. The reality is much, much worse. Our pollution of the environment with plastic is of a much larger magnitude. Our real usage in Malaysia is closer to between 5 million and 10 million plastic straws a day.

On the whole our recycling is poor. The Malaysian society as a whole have a limited ecological awareness and saving our environment is not on the mind of the average person. We need to recognise that every small bit counts.

While we wait for the average Malaysian to change, we appeal to all our fast food outlets and regular food outlets (corner coffee shops, Mamak shops, pasar malam, etc) to stop dispensing straws routinely for any cold or hot drink and make them only available to customers who request them. We should offer straws to people who need them, perhaps some people with motor dysfunction or other disability. The general public don’t need a straw to drink, it is just an excess. Have a “straws on request” policy. Remember it saves money as well and makes your food outlet more competitive & eco-friendly.

We also appeal to all Malaysians to request that their drinks come without straws. We all need to play our part and acknowledge the damage to environment and educate our fellow Malaysians to avoid using straws as far as possible. Make the plastic straw you used yesterday the last one you’ll ever use.

5 Important Facts on Plastic & Plastic Straws:

• Between 80% and 90% of all marine debris is made from plastic.
• Straws are too small to be easily recycled, so they are disposed as trash and often end up in the ocean.
• Straws are very harmful to animals, especially marine life. Most are ingested or entrap them.
• Plastics take 400-500 years to degrade.
• Some studies have shown that one third of all fish that we eat has ingested plastics.

One review of plastic waste into the oceans put Malaysia as a moderate plastic polluter. Asian countries are among the largest of polluters.

So the next time you go out for a meal or drink (that will be today or tomorrow) remember to say – “give me that drink without a straw please”. Fast food outlets and makan shops/stalls remember that you are a major polluter of our oceans and damaging the health of our people – stop the routine use of straws. Move to a “straws on request” policy.

If we want our children and grandchildren to have a meaningful future, we have to act today to reduce our plastic waste.

Tomorrow may be one straw too late. – December 14, 2017.

P/S: Also stop buying those plastic water bottles, reuse them please or bring your own water bottle.

* Dr Amar Singh HSS reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.