Community needs to work together with govt to fight river pollution

This newspaper article is again from Sabah, Malaysia!! EM activities in Malaysia is on the move.






Community needs to work together with govt to fight river pollution

Sabah times, Malaysia
http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/28810

KOTA KINABALU: River pollution in the State must be addressed at its root and by members of the community if the problem is ever to be solved.

Enviro Jamof Sdn Bhd director, Sawada Tetsuya in his talk on Effective Micro-organism (EM) Technology held at the Kinabalu Club yesterday said that even though EM technology has been proven to be capable of overcoming pollution problems, it needs the concerted effort of all members of the community in order to be truly effective.

In the case of Sabah, he said the community needs to work with the government in ridding the State of pollution in particular river pollution.

Sawada said one method adopted by countries like Thailand and some States in the country is throwing hundreds of EM balls into polluted rivers.

When applied to rivers, EM which is made up of beneficial micro-organisms improves the overall condition of the rivers through the reduction of sludge and other toxic compounds.

He said the practice must be conducted on a continuous basis thus the need for community involvement.

He suggested the public could also reduce the amount of waste going into rivers by reducing kitchen waste generated at home, which accounts for 80 percent of wastes at landfills.

These kitchen wastes could be turned into fertilizers and toilet cleaning solutions.

“About 3000 schools in Japan are using EM to clean toilets and around 10 percent of Japanese use EM regularly,” he said.

One school in Sabah which has already incorporated the technology is SM La Salle in Tanjung Aru.

Sawada added that EM technology can be used in various industries, including agriculture and aquaculture to improve quality and ensure what is produced is disease-free.