PETALING JAYA, 28 April 2018 – In conjunction with World Earth Day, Salcon Berhad via its flagship CSR Salcon Smart Water Programme (SSWP) invited thirty-eight (38) students from SMK Seafield to help reduce plastic pollution by being aware of its dangers and to join river clean-up activities at Sg. Penchala in Taman Persekutuan Bukit Kiara.
Cheap, capable of being made into any conceivable shape, strong and durable, plastic is something of a wonder material and has proved so useful to humans that since the 1950s we have produced an estimated 8.3 billion metric tonnes of the stuff. However, the victim of this success appears to be much of life on Earth.
“Plastic are some of the most commonly littered items in the rivers and this not only pollutes the environment but also affect living creatures in the river,” said Ms. Chern Meng Gaik, General Manager – Corporate of Salcon Berhad. “Plastic pollution also causes damage to groundwater sources as plastic toxins in landfills and from litter seep into the groundwater, which people drink every day. Through community engagement and education, we hope to stem the plastic tide to create a better living environment.
The programme got the students wading in water as they were asked to clean up the river. Besides that, they were taught how to conduct the tests on the river, including the smell, flow rate, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and catching living organisms in Sungai Penchala to identify the quality and health of the river using various water testing equipment.
Tasha Yogeswara, 17 years old student from SMK Seafield could not wait to jump in and help to clean up the river with his classmates. Besides having fun in the river, he gained in-depth knowledge by conducting hands-on river water testing and learnt the importance of sustaining clean rivers for our Earth.
Meanwhile, Ms. Shanta, teacher of SMK Seafield said, “This programme provides a very good opportunity for our students to have hands-on experience of river water monitoring and to distinguish the various micro-organisms that exist throughout this riverbank.” “We are very grateful to be invited to join this river and water awareness programme which is also in line with school co-curriculum syllabus,” she added.
Salcon measures the effectiveness of the programme through a pre and post water knowledge evaluation. The evaluation result has shown that the students’ understanding on water knowledge has increased significantly after conducting the activities by themselves.
To ensure the sustainability of this programme, Salcon launched the Train-the-Trainers (TOT) programme since 2012 which involves teachers from different schools coming together to learn to conduct the river programme by themselves. Since the inception of TOT programme, the number of students benefiting from this programme has significantly increased. To date, the programme has benefitted more than 40 schools and 2,300 children and has garnered good support and response from teachers and students.