Tech Trash

Subang Jaya Recycles Tech Trash

Society

Electrical and electronic waste, otherwise known as “e-waste”, is becoming a toxic legacy that ends up in landfills or incinerators instead of being recycled in today’s digital era. E-waste includes broken, non-working, old or obsolete electronic appliances and most people are unaware that the lack of proper e-recycling can lead to harmful toxins such as lead and mercury leaching into the environment.

With these concerns in mind, the Rukun Tetangga of SS14 and USJ13 collaborated with KITAReward recently to encourage e-waste recycling amongst their residents by initiating collection points in their area.


“We have found that there has been an issue with indiscriminate dumping of electronic items in neighbourhoods so we decided to encourage people to recycle. By doing so, we can offer incentives to those who participate in recycling their electronic waste and at the same time allow us to dispose of that waste properly and responsibly while generating some revenue for both Rukun Tetangga SS14 and USJ13,” says TH Teoh, Chairman of the SS14 RT.

He also shared that many residents had started collecting their unwanted items in anticipation of the launch. In support of the initiative called Re-Tech, the campaign received a grant of RM5,000 from the Selangor State Government Environment and Green Technology Small Grants programme.

The first day of collection saw over 2 tonnes of recyclable e-waste collected, contributed by 86 households. As rewards to residents who bring their electronics for recycling during the launch of the programme, Sunway Malls provided cash vouchers from various shops in Sunway Pyramid.

“We have always been active in green efforts. It is a practice we upkeep in all of our malls. Furthermore, Sunway is committed to the Sustainable Development Goals and Re-tech is definitely an initiative that fits in perfectly. As a community mall, it is only apt that Sunway Pyramid does its part in incentivising and rewarding our community who will make the effort to recycle their e-waste,” says Kevin Tan, Chief Operating Officer of Sunway Malls.

Depending on the items brought in for recycling, the cash vouchers are RM5 Slappy Cakes vouchers, RM10 SnacKing vouchers and RM20 Sanook vouchers.

Starting May onwards however, points will be granted for each items to determine the value of vouchers received.

“With proper collection points and a reward system, we are confident that this initiative will encourage residents to send their e-waste for recycling and reduce indiscriminate dumping at the same time. Together, we can make a concerted effort to reduce our impact on the environment,” says USJ13 RT chairman, Kelvin Chew.

Re-tech is a joint initiative between SS14 Rukun Tetangga and USJ13 Rukun Tetangga, and in partnership with JKP Zone 1 & 3, the Subang Jaya Municipal Council, Lions Club of Subang Jaya as well as KITAReward, with Sunway Malls as a corporate partner.

Items that are accepted include old, spoiled or unwanted TVs, radios, mobile phones, refrigerators, washing machines, laptops, keyboards, monitors, mouse, CPU, modems, printers, tablets, mini servers, CD drives and electrical home items amongst many others.

Sunway Malls is gearing to be amongst Malaysia’s largest mall owner-operator as existing projects and those in the pipeline now stand at 7.7 million sqft NLA and that figure is planned to be increased to 10.2 million sqft NLA by 2020. The malls are:-

  • Sunway Pyramid, Bandar Sunway
  • Sunway Giza Mall, Kota Damansara
  • Sunway Putra Mall, Kuala Lumpur
  • Sunway Velocity Mall, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
  • Sunway Carnival Mall, Penang

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