By William Isau
SIBU, Oct 17: EcoPlus, a mobile application that embodies the essence of environmental awareness and community collaboration, is now accessible to the public for download.
The app can be downloaded from Google Play, Apple App Store and Huawei AppGallery. EcoPlus is the result of a partnership between Sibu Municipal Council and University of Technology Sarawak (UTS).
“This application introduces waste collection services facilitated by e-hailing, a community waste-to-wealth programme utilising QR codes, a comprehensive reward system and a leader board feature,” said UTS deputy vice chancellor (Academic) Prof Dr Mohammad Sharil Osman.
Speaking at the launch of the application today, Dr Mohammad said the app not only simplifies the recycling process but also incentivises community participation, creating a positive cycle of environmental consciousness.
“One of the key strengths of EcoPlus lies in its ability to collect recycled waste data systematically, categorised according to district zones. This data will then be subjected to rigorous analytics, generating valuable insights that will be shared with the local council and the Sarawak government,” he added.
SMC chairman Clarence Ting in congratulating UTS for its innovativeness in coming out with the app, called on residents to recycle their waste.
“SMC will continue to encourage UTS to help us come up with more innovative practices. We need to think five years ahead for now. About 50 tonnes of waste ended up at our landfill. We need to reduce it by half and later to 10 per cent one day,” he said.
According to Ting, the council’s sanitary landfill in Kemuyang is almost filled to the brim with waste.
“The volume of rubbish is growing and the size of the landfill remains the same. We might have to build a new landfill but people do not want the landfill to be located within 10 miles of their home,” he said. — DayakDaily
