The use of polystyrene and plastic will be banned in Johor to protect the environment and for health, the state assembly was told today (Monday, 18th April).
In case you didn’t know, polystyrene is one of the most widely used plastics, the scale of its production being several billion kilograms per year. It is often used for producing disposable plastic cutlery and dinnerware, CD “jewel” cases, smoke detector housings, license plate frames, plastic model assembly kits, and many other objects where a rigid, economical plastic is desired.
It is increasingly abundant as a form of litter in the outdoor environment, particularly along shores and waterways. Unfortunately, polystyrene is also very slow to biodegrade, thus becoming a focus of controversy among environmentalists.
State Health and Environment Committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat said the matter would be announced by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin at the end of the year at the tabling of the 2017 state budget.
Towards this end, he said a working paper on the use of biodegradable and biocompostable containers to replace polystyrene and plastic was being prepared by the Johor Biotechnology and Biodiversity Corporation (J-Biotech).
Datuk Ayub Rahmat was replying to a question from Chua Wee Beng (DAP-Bentayan) who wanted to know if the state government had plans to ban the use of polystyrene and plastic.
Source: Bernama / Featured image from domusweb.it.
