Kota Kinabalu: Plastic bags will no longer be offered to shoppers in the city by August, said Mayor Datuk Seri Dr Sabin Samitah.
He said the ongoing campaign is part of the fifth phase of City Hall’s (DBKK) “Bawa Beg Bah” (3B) campaign, which aims to reduce the use of conventional plastic bags.
The 3B campaign will encourage the public to practise “reduce, reuse and recycle” by bringing their own bags when they go shopping, he added.
“Eateries will also stop providing plastic bags and straws,” he said at the closing of a World Environment Day campaign at the DBKK headquarters, here, Tuesday.
Sabin said stores are permitted to offer plastic bags to customers only four days a week in the current phase of the 3B campaign.
“At present, we are in the fourth phase of the 3B Campaign, which prohibits the use of plastic bags on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays at all outlets within our jurisdiction.
“In the upcoming phase, we will extend this ban to the entire week. However, the campaign does not apply to wet markets and fish markets,” he said.
In conjunction with this year's celebration, DBKK has organised several events, including KK Clean-up Day 2.0, planting 2,000 mangrove trees along the Darau River, the Community Carnival @ KK and the Food Premises Clean Toilet Competition.
“Among the objectives is to increase public awareness on the importance of keeping the environment clean, as well as to cultivate the ethics of maintaining clean, attractive and fragrant public toilets,” he said.
During the event, Sabin also presented prizes for the Food Premises Clean Toilet Competition, which features three categories – restaurant, coffeeshop and coffee house.
The winner for the restaurant category is Restaurant BTC (Inanam Branch), while in second and third places are BTC Bistro and Gariana’s Vui Ve Modern Vietnamese.
For the Coffee House category, the winner is Lucky Bean Kingfisher, while in second and third places are Oktober Bakery & Café 3 and Guilt Free Society, respectively.
For the coffeeshop category, the winner is Kedai Kopi Kinabalu. There are no prize winners for the coffeeshop category for runner-up and third place.
“I hope this competition will provide motivation and encouragement to food premises to ensure that their toilets are always functioning properly,” he said.
During the ceremony, City Hall also launched the Standards Cleanliness and Orderliness for DBKK Operational Sector.
Sabin said the manual acts as an organisational guideline for providing quality solid waste collection management, hygiene and health services, solving existing
problems and forming a driving force for the growth and development of services to always be efficient, advanced, and excellent.
“This standard is a key reference document that sets the quality standards that must be achieved by members in performing services in an area.
“Among the services involved are public cleaning, garbage collection, grass cutting and weed control, toilet and market cleaning, as well as DBKK bylaw enforcement.
“All these services include the main scope of the DBKK Operations Sector's remit,” he said.
Also present were Deputy Director General (Management Services Sector) DBKK, Faradillah Haji Abdul Rani and Kota Kinabalu President Inner Wheel Club, Marie Yee.
