Communities

Taman Gemilang

Cleanliness is the biggest budget expenditure for both MPSP and MPPP. As a result, there are and have been extensive discussions on waste minimisation and how to encourage and reward people for taking waste 'out of the system' through reducing, re-using and/or recycling. At the same time the ambitions of a Cleaner, Greener Penang and Local Agenda 21 (LA21) also extend to community involvement in caring for our own cleanliness and environment. These are the major contexts in which the GRB Cleanliness Pilot project was framed.

In 2012, the Cleanliness Pilot was implemented as a partnership project within the LA21 context of MPSP. The Wanita Hijau programme in Taman Gemilang was a response to a request for support from the Jawatankuasa Kecemerlangan Wanita (one of the six LA21 committees in MPSP). It was framed in the overall context of the GRB Pilot project work on cleanliness, which set out to help:

• develop partnerships and initiatives to enhance the visibility and agenda of LA21 in MPSP
• pilot a sustainable approach to building community involvement and resilience in encouraging recycling of dry and organic waste as well as address wider community needs including cleanliness
• build a constructive partnership between communities and the various levels of government, not least through involving communities in budget processes
• develop women's leadership

Ms Lian Boey Eng, the Wanita Hijau appointed by the LA21 Jawatankuasa Kecemerlangan Wanita, and working with the local Residents Association, organised a number of events in the area over the last months of the year. She conducted a community recycling survey which established the extent to which people in Taman Gemilang and environs recycled (paper, plastic, tin, glass, clothes, e-waste and cooking oil) and how they recycled. The survey also identified priority concerns of residents relating to cleanliness in the area. She and the RT and volunteers also helped prepare for the renovation of the local Pusat Kitar Semula. She also distributed a newsletter and other materials door to door, relating to recycling and community participation. This was prior to the launch of the Wanita Hijau/newly-renovated Pusat Kitar Semula which took place on December 22nd, an occasion graced by MPSP Setiausaha, Tuan Hj Rozali bin Hj Mohamud, together with Cllr Tan Xin Ying (chair of the Jawatankuasa Kecemerlangan Wanita), Mr Chew (Secretary of LA21, MPSP) and hosted by Mr Cheah, as Chair of the local RT.

Various materials have also been produced by the Wanita Hijau Project which can be used throughout the state. They include leaflets on recycling and a guide to options for community recycling/composting. The Wanita Hijau also was present at our GRB stall in the Penang Green Expo in September and helped organise (with MPSP's LA21) the Karnival Komuniti Hijau, a two-day public celebration in Megamal Penang (November 3rd and 4th) which was attended by over 600 people.