GEORGE TOWN: The garbage-filled Gazumbo Island next to Penang Bridge is a tad cleaner now, all thanks to a group of volunteers.

       Comprising members of Penang Swimming Club (PSC), Penang Green Council (PGC) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (Cemacs), about 40 of them arrived on the island and got theirs hands dirty at about 9am on Saturday (Feb 26).

       They spent over three hours and cleaned from the shoreline before working their way into the island's dense copse of trees that hide a lurid collection of plastic waste washed up on the island.

       While most of the garbage collected were plastic bottles, other items ranged from discarded furniture to food wrappings, glass bottles, tin cans, as well as over a dozen motorcycle helmets, which were then segregated, counted, weighed and packed into large sacks to be taken off the island using boats.

       Among those present were PGC general manager Josephine Tan and Cemacs director Datuk Dr Aileen Tan.

       In November last year, it was reported that the 3ha Gazumbo Island, formed from sand build-ups while the bridge was being built from 1983 to 1986, has so much rubbish that it now looks like a landfill.

       The man-made island which greets visitors travelling along the Penang Bridge has become an eye-sore, littered with plastic that poses a danger to the marine environment in the state and in the Strait of Malacca as a whole.