By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, April 30: A 6-metre wide by 3-metre tall sculpture made from plastic straw waste titled ‘The Turtle in the Ocean’ has made it into the Malaysia Book of Records (MBR) for the ‘Biggest Straw Art Installation’ in Malaysia.
The artwork, which took two weeks to complete, was created by local artist Daphne Siaw of Artsy Daphy and a group of volunteers aged five to 61 as part of a collaboration between Kuching South City Council (MBKS) and NakedWonders, a local enterprise promoting the use of edible and biodegradable rice straws.
The waste plastic straws used to create the turtle sculpture were collected as a result of MBKS’ ban on their use in coffee shops.
At the ‘Make Climate Cool Again’ launch which was held today at the MBKS Community Hall on Jalan Padungan here in conjunction with Earth Day 2023, MBR senior record consultant Edwin Yeoh presented MBKS mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng the MBR honours in the presence of Deputy Premier of Sarawak Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian.
The ‘Make Climate Cool Again’ event is being organised by MBKS in collaboration with NakedWonders and Sarawak’s Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) at the MBKS Community Hall from April 29 to May 8.
Since the plastic straw ban’s implementation in July 2022, approximately 3 million plastic straws have been retrieved from the environment.
However, Yeoh was unable to disclose how many straws were used to complete the artwork because a guessing contest is ongoing in conjunction with the exhibition, which runs until May 8.
Earlier in his speech, Dr Sim praised MBKS for its initiatives to ban plastic straws, transform waste into artwork, and launch campaigns to bring more people together to contribute to environmental preservation.
He was also overjoyed to learn that ‘The Turtle in the Ocean’ had been inducted into MBR.
“Earlier in the MBKS mayor’s speech, he mentioned that some traders had suffered losses as a result of the ban on the use of plastic drinking straws.
“However, this loss pales in comparison to the benefits of prohibiting the use of plastic straws on the earth and our environment.
“Many people do not understand what the sustainable development goals (SDGs) are, and even if they do, there are numerous new business opportunities that have the potential to generate significant revenue, such as carbon trading and carbon storage,” Dr Sim said.
He also pointed out that the environment is one of the main pillars of Sarawak’s Post-Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030.
Among others present at the event were MBKS deputy mayor Hilmy Othman, Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) chairman Tan Kai, and Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap. — DayakDaily
