Golden Sands Resort, Penang by Shangri-La has organised its first environmental education programme titled “Sea No Plastic” as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) under Shangri-La’s Care for Nature “Sanctuary” Programme that promotes conservation and the restoration of biodiversity.
“Sea No Plastic” is targeted at primary school children from neighbourhood schools. Years 5 and 6 school children from SJK (C) Eok Hua, Teluk Bahang and SJK (C) Pai Chai, Batu Feringgi were the first batch of students to attend this half-day programme. The same programme will be conducted for students of SRK Teluk Bahang in October 2013.
“We titled the programme ‘Sea No Plastic’ as an intentional pun – firstly, to educate children not to litter in the sea and, secondly, to show them how they can make a difference in reducing the amount of plastics used daily,” said Elizabeth Liew, the resort’s CSR manager. “Children today are very influential in the family; we hope that they can transfer their knowledge learnt here, to their daily lives, and develop a consciousness for turtle conservation.”
The session kicked off with an interactive talk on recycling and the effects of plastic bags on the marine ecosystem by Kanda Kumar, a dedicated volunteer with Malaysian Nature Society (MNS). Kumar played various videos, among which the most affective was the trailer of the movie “Midway” by Chris Jordan, which showed the devastating effects of sea pollution.
Liew explained that the resort had leveraged on two partners – MNS to conduct the stimulating talk on recycling and Penang Department of Fisheries, the experts in environmental awareness for students, to conduct a talk on turtles.
The students also learned to make pencil extensions from recycled magazines, a popular activity that MNS introduced for its own recycling programme. To keep them stimulated, the kids had a hands-on experience to test their knowledge through “Recognising Your Recyclables”.
Each group comprising 10 children received a box of items collected by the resort’s Housekeeping Department. After discussing which items were suitable for reuse and recycle, and which were considered garbage, the winning team members each received a book titled “The EcoKids and the Plastic Bag Pickle” by Fay Khoo and Asha Gill.
Mansor Yobe, the Pantai Kerachut Turtle Conservation Centre from the Department of Fisheries, gave a presentation about the dwindling turtle population in Penang.