PETALING JAYA: Some 60 tonnes of garbage are collected from rivers in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor each year, the Department of Irrigation and Drainage said.

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS: Volunteers cleaning the river surroundings Sungai Way during the Sungai Way rehabilitation project carnival. — Bernama photo

The department’s river basin and coastal zone management director Datuk Ong Siew Heng described the figure as alarming and said that the people could play their role in addressing the problem by practising good waste disposal methods.

“It’s scary isn’t it… 60 tonnes of garbage in our rivers. If we take a look at the garbage traps, they are clogged with garbage that we can walk right on top of them,” he told reporters after opening the Sungai Way rehabilitation project, here.

He said that the department required RM150 million to clean up all the rivers in the country.

Meanwhile, GAB Foundation chairman Tan Sri Saw Huat Lye said the community must support the department’s effort to clean up rivers.

He said that although the department could set up garbage traps and collect tonnes of garbage a month, it would not solve the problem because people would continue to litter.

The GAB Foundation is the main sponsor and patron for the project. — Bernama