Progress Against Plastic

Plastuck.

Let’s be honest, we have a problem. The problem is getting worse. Maybe there is some merit in playing the blame game. Sure, some individuals and collectives are worse than others. If one looks at the statistics, some entire countries are worse than others. And plus, Brunei is small, statistically we’re not so bad, right? Well, if you actually look at the statistics, the picture is a lot bleaker than you would imagine. And at the rate we’re going, we’ll be sinking in a sea of plastic.

Brunei is the highest per capita producer of waste in the region, with each person generating an average of 1.4 kg of solid waste per day. 16% of that is plastic. That means that every week, Bruneians produce around 1.5kg of plastic waste.

In 2015, Brunei produced 189,000 tonnes of solid waste. 30,240 tonnes were plastic. Between 130-180 bags of waste are collected from Kampong Ayer daily, most of it plastic bottles and containers. 20,000 bags of trash were collected from Kampong Ayer from April to May 2018.

More than half of the plastic waste in the ocean comes from just five Asian countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.

Locally and abroad, millennials have been leading the charge towards making small changes in our own lives. And while we all may not be ready to go vegan, one thing we can and should change, is our reliance on plastic.The Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation (JASTRe) has been taking steps to decrease local plastic waste and one success story has been the “No Plastic Bag” initiative, which since it’s inception, has seen an over 77% decrease in plastic bag use at Brunei’s five major supermarkets. One fears, however, that unless we all make steps to end our personal reliance on plastic, our hopes of avoiding environmental ruin are slim.

At Progresif, we’re not ready to give up. We believe that progress is possible, and we hope you’ll hear this battle cry and join us in the fight against plastic.

We’re starting a campaign called #ProgressAgainstPlastic, aimed at galvanising our society to collectively, and more importantly individually, taking active steps to reducing our plastic footprint.

At Progresif, We’re Not Ready to Give Up.

We believe that progress is possible, and we hope you’ll hear this battle cry and join us in the fight against plastic.

We’re starting a campaign called #ProgressAgainstPlastic, aimed at galvanising our society to collectively, and more importantly individually, taking active steps to reducing our plastic footprint.