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LETTERS: The usage of plastic in everyday life needs to be reduced. The detrimental effect of its usage on the environment is worrisome. Marine life too has not been spared.

Most importantly, the mindset of the masses has to be changed, which isn't an easy proposition.

The throwing of rubbish out of the car window, while waiting at traffic lights, is not shocking for us Malaysians.

Even those owning luxury cars too have been caught in the act. What more, with darkly tinted car windows being permissible nowadays!

Therefore, we need to be firm to get the desired results. Only then will the rakyat know that it's the new norm.

Take for example the practice of the pharmacies in the government health clinics. There is a notice at the pharmacy stating that no plastic bags are provided.

Each time I go for my appointment, I'm ready with a bag to collect the medicines dispensed at the pharmacy. It is accepted by the community, and it's the norm there.

The question is, why can't this policy of no plastic bag be practised elsewhere? If we are firm with our intentions, it will be accepted sooner or later.

I vividly remember during the 1960s when we went to a textile shop, the purchased items would be placed into a paper bag to be taken home.

For that matter, even when going to the wet market, newspapers were used to wrap the vegetables, and tied with a strand of the banana fibre. My father would take along a basket to put in the vegetables.

Taking a bag along was the practise in the 1960s. Of course, there will be teething problems initially, but that is to be expected.

Human beings can adapt, and will adjust somehow to it. Should ever the need for a bag arise, a biodegradable type only should be made available, at a cost.

A bold and firm approach is needed to make things happen. Everyone needs to be civic-minded enough to play their part to ensure the success of the policy.

It's time to stand up and be counted. Mother Earth and the oceans have been abused for far too long.

THIAGARAJAN MATHIAPARANAM

Klang, Selangor


The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times