lest the purchase is unnece or made of non-biodegradable material and will damage the environment and come back to haunt you ... in stinking water from the tap and costlier water treatment. And go back to basics. Bring the tiffin-carrier for takeaway food. Bring a big reusable bag when you go shopping. These are ways of the past which we should adopt to reduce the amount of waste we throw out. Rethink, repair and reuse, the experts tell MARIA J. DASS.

Some 50 years ago, when people did not have the luxury of garbage lorries coming by regularly to cart away their household wastes, they found ways to reuse what they would have discarded.

People must do the same today and look at their rubbish as a resource and not waste to be thrown out, says Global Environment Centre programme officer Dr K. Kalithasan.

In many ways, past generations can give pointers on ways to reduce waste, he says.

They had the services of the karang guni man who turned up with his gunny sacks to buy bottles and tins for recycling.

Small quantities of organic waste like onion and potato peels were burnt and then used as fertiliser for plants. Waste from perishable food would be buried, otherwise it would raise a stink.

Leftover food would be fed to pets. Takeaway food would be packed in containers brought by the buyer, in banana leaves or in brown paper, instead of styrofoam or plastic bags. Goods bought would be carried in a rattan basket and not in an array of plastic bags.

Today, there is no second thought on how this disposable culture will come back to affect our lives, says Kalithasan. Many do not want to keep recyclable items and feel it is an inconvenience to drop these off at recycling stations.

It is also easier and quicker to whisk away food in plastic bags and styrofoam despite knowing how environmentunfriendly these are.

Centre for Environment, Technology and Development executive director Gurmit Singh has this simple advice for consumers: "Think."

While many have been promoting recycling as a means to reduce waste headed to our overflowing landfills, Gurmit says recycling should be the last resort. The reduce, reuse and recycle (3R) model should be replaced with the rethink, reduce, repair, reuse and then recycle (5R) model, he says.

"People should start thinking each time they pick up a product ? do I need this, will I use this, can I reuse the packaging or bottle and can it be recycled as a last resort, is it going to end up adding to the heap at the landfill in my area thus producing more leachate?"

This should rightfully start with manufacturers producing products with minimal packaging, he says.

"As for consumers, most are unfortunately taken in by fancy packaging instead of scrutinising labels to see if the packaging is biodegradable and environment-friendly, or if it can be reused or recycled," says Gurmit.

"The present recycling campaign has hardly any impact because it is not presented in the correct way and the facilities provided are pathetic.

"In some countries waste is not collected if it is not separated (to be collected over different days). However, when this system was implemented in SS2 Petaling Jaya, I noticed that separated waste was just thrown in with the other waste in the garbage truck - crushing the whole point of separation for recycling," Gurmit adds.

"I think we have actually moved backwards, as in the past at least we had people like the karang guni man collecting recyclable items from door to door."

At one time there was even a buy-back system where used bottles of aerated drink manufacturers like F&N were sold back to the company via restaurants and sundry shops to be reused, he says.

"This still exists but on a smaller scale as most manufacturers have moved on to using plastic bottles."

Yes Enviro Management Sdn Bhd director Dr Lee Aik Heng believes in resource recovery and source reduction - where the consequence of buying an item is analysed upon purchase by consumers.

"It is also high time that waste reduction and recycling campaigns focus on health and economic implications to the public, instead of just environmental concerns," he says.

"For most people if the environmental problem is not in their backyard, it is of no concern to them.

"However, if you tell them how their choices inadvertently come back to them somehow - how the river running behind their house is now stinking with leachate because of the overflowing dumpsite or that they are paying more for water treatment because of the high river pollution levels - then they will sit up and take notice," says Lee.

Asked where the present recycling campaigns had gone wrong, he said education and the way one is brought up has a lot to do with it.

"We need to train the younger generation to value source reduction and train them to recycle by organising recycling campaigns in schools through which their parents will be involved," he says.

In going back to basics it will also be a good idea to train children to reuse materials like greeting cards and wrapping papers to make gifts.

"I would appreciate a handmade gift more than one that I can go out and buy myself in the store," he says.

The failure of the recycling campaign is partly due to the fact that collection of items from the stations is slow, leaving bins overflowing, coupled with the bad attitude of the public who do not throw the specific material in the specific bin, Lee says.

He suggests that the recycling infrastructure be managed and run by various resident associations, with the support of local authorities.

Lee says some countries have made it mandatory for source separation with a proper legislative framework to support this. This includes source separation at home and restriction on certain waste from entering landfills.

"Retailers and manufacturers, especially those using glass and high-density polyethylene (H D P) packaging products which can be reused can do their part by introducing container deposits, where consumers can return the containers for a certain fee," says Lee.

At the same time manufacturers should consider reducing the amount of packaging for their products, says Lee.

"I bought a new notebook last week and the packaging was made up of several layers of plastic, styrofoam and each part was wrapped in unnecessary individual plastic."

Lee suggests putting a cost to plastic carry bags to reduce its demand and prompt more people to use reusable shopping bags.

He points out that it costs about 5% more to recycle an aluminium can than to manufacture one, so manufacturers should consider using reusable material.

Recycled paper is costly and there is low demand. "I suggest that government agencies and schools be at the forefront of creating this demand, and this will reduce the cost and prompt the private sector to follow suit."

"The authorities should also be conduits of change by increasing the demand for biodegradable plastic bags for instance," he says.

"When the demand increases, it may prompt manufacturers to switch to making plastics using biodegradable material."