KOTA KINABALU: It came up to an estimated 80 bags worth of 10kg rice.

       Unfortunately, these were not the grains used to feed the people but plastic waste weighing 764kg that was collected over the weekend during a beach clean-up.

       The “KK-Plastic Neutral Love Clean KK (Kota Kinabalu) clean up” is an initiative to make Sabah plastic neutral in five years.

       Simon Christopher, founder of a non-governmental organisation called Blu Hope said:

       “At the beach clean-up in Likas Bay near here, our 77 volunteers from the various organisations and agencies gathered some 764kg of plastic waste.”

       In a statement recently, he said the initiative was the first of its kind that focused on “quantitative/qualitative” beach clean-ups, unlike many other similar programmes that collect all sorts of trash.

       It was a way to gather specific data on plastic waste as no one knows how massive the problem is and how this had to be dealt with, he said.

       He said one of Blu Hope’s goals via regular “quantitative and qualitative” beach cleaning operations is to obtain new scientific data of marine debris across the city’s beaches.

       The programme, he said, is conducted in collaboration with the Tropical Research and Conservation Centre.

       “Blu Hope believes that the way forward to make Sabah the first plastic neutral state in Malaysia is to give monetary value to plastic waste and bring tangible value from recycling plastic waste,” he said.

       Christopher said with Blu Hope’s goals alongside the City Hall’s recently launched “LOVE KK” initiative to clean up the city, different types of trash had to be dealt with differently.

       He said the goal was to establish a circular waste collection system, first in Kota Kinabalu, then across Sabah.

       During the event, volunteers viewed a “Special Plastic Message” from renowned British naturalist Sir David Attenborough.

       They also learnt about the United Kingdom’s Ocean Generation “Rethinking Plastics”, a three-part series narrated by Malaysian celebrity Maya Karin.

       Among the volunteers were those from City Hall, Sabah International Conference Centre, JCI Tanjung Aru, Sutera Sanctuary Lodges, Sekolah Indonesia Kota Kinabalu, Kinabalu International School EcoWarriors and Young Explorers Academy.

       Several months ago, Blu Hope signed a Kota-Kinabalu-Plastic-Neutral memorandum of understanding with Kota Kinabalu City Hall.

       The move was aimed at helping the collection and the recycling of plastic waste.

       The trash included the tonnes of waste washed up on the shores of the state capital daily, Christopher said.