It was a milestone to be proud of as both Don and Mylene had spent the last 10 years giving talks to associations, factories and firms in Penang and around Malaysia, urging more and more Malaysians to think about their household waste and their role in recycling.

The simple but meaningful celebration was held at their home in Taman Bukit Indah on 19 March 2006.

The Sunday morning event kicked off with a speech by guest-of-honour, YB. Lau Chiek Tuan, who encouraged more people to take part in recycling. A cake-cutting ceremony was also held before everyone was invited to join the buffet queue for a sumptuous lunch.

The event was organised with support from Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai in cash and kind.

Special guest-of-honour, YB Lau Chiek Tuan, urging the crowd to take recycling seriously.

Don (with cap) with YB Lau (third from right) congratulating a fellow recycler (in the middle) who collected two huge bags of aluminum tabs (ring pulls from aluminum cans). One kilogramme of these tabs makes two prosthetic or artificial limbs!

Group lunch hosted by Don and Mylene for the attendees comprising journalists and guests-of-honour.

Yummy Indian food…Long buffet line made up of neighbours, well-wishers and supporters of recycling.

Do I throw them away? Do I keep them and turn my storeroom into a junkyard of sorts?

What about used cooking oil? Can I just pour them down the drain and hope it won’t pollute the waterways?

And so, with more questions than answers, I joined an online recycling group. But the group is relatively silent on most days, and I sometimes feel as if the moderator and I are the only living creatures there.

Until I met Don Theseira and Mylene Ooi who are both not only passionate recyclers but famous as well (they’ve been profiled in the December 2002 issue of Reader’s Digest and invited all over the country to give talks on recycling and composting). I mean, really passionate. It resonates in their talk. I met them for the first time yesterday when they presented a talk on recycling at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Pulau Tikus, Penang.

Read the rest of this blog post here.

KETIKA pelbagai pihak mengetengahkan pelbagai teknologi seperti pirolisis
dan insinerator bagi mengatasi masalah pelupusan sampah yang semakin
meruncing di negara ini, kita seakan lupa bahawa isu ini sebenarnya mampu
diatasi jika setiap daripada kita menjalankan tanggungjawab masing-masing
dengan mengitar semula.
Jika usaha ini dilaksanakan setiap individu, pastinya kerajaan tidak
perlu membelanjakan sejumlah wang yang besar untuk membina pelbagai
kemudahan pelupusan seperti insinerator yang menelan belanja RM1.5 bilion.
Jumlah itu cukup besar untuk dibelanjakan, tetapi menerusi kitar semula
kita tidak perlu berbelanja langsung, malah lebih menguntungkan. Ia
mungkin pelik bagi sesetengah pihak tetapi tidak bagi pasangan suami
isteri yang menggelar diri mereka sebagai `Wira Harian’.
Pasangan ini menjalankan projek kitar semula secara sendiri dengan
kerjasama orang tengah yang membeli barangan buangan daripada mereka.
Walaupun hasilnya tidak lumayan, ia masih berguna.
Don Theseira dan isterinya, Mylene Ooi menjalankan projek kitar semula
sejak tujuh tahun lalu dengan menggunakan teknik kitar semula mereka
sendiri, yang mudah dan boleh dilakukan semua orang.
Pasangan ini berpendapat orang ramai menggesa kerajaan dan majlis
perbandaran mencari penyelesaian terhadap masalah pelupusan sampah tanpa
menyedari mereka juga mengganggu usaha mencari penyelesaian kepada isu
itu.
“Sampah datang daripada kita sendiri, jika kita pandai mengurus sampah
ia tidak akan terbentuk, mengapa perlu menyusahkan kerajaan menyelesaikan
sesuatu yang kita lakukan,” kata Theseira.
Beliau berkata, program mengitar semula dengan meletakkan tiga tong
masing-masing berwarna kuning bagi barangan seperti tin aluminium, jingga
(kaca) dan biru bagi kertas di pusat mengitar semula tidak akan berjaya.
“Usaha kerajaan itu akan menjadi sia-sia jika rakyat sendiri tidak
mengambil inisiatif mengitar di rumah, kerana semuanya bermula dari
rumah,” katanya.
Theseira berkata, antara barang yang boleh di kitar semula ialah surat
khabar, buku dan majalah, kadbod, botol plastik, bekas plastik berwarna,
tin aluminium, bekas tin, pakaian lama, botol minyak dan bateri kereta.
Himpunan sampah yang menggunung di pusat pelupusan sampah tidak akan
terjadi jika barang tadi diasingkan untuk dikitar semula sebelum dihantar
ke pusat pelupusan sampah.
Manakala antara barang yang tidak boleh dikitar semula adalah bekas
minuman tetrapak, styrofoam, kasut, alat permainan, pembalut manisan,
barangan elektrik dan cermin.

Earth Matters: Everyday Heroes of Recycling 

For every sceptic that they’ve met, there are more who believe and who are eager to make a difference.

These people are the reason why Don Theseira and Mylene Ooi are not yet ready to throw in the towel. Theseira and Ooi have been convincing people about saving the environment by teaching them to recycle for the last eight years. “There will be people who see things that are beneficial to the environment.

You will also meet people who could not care less, selfish people whose mindsets are difficult to change,” says Theseira, 67. “I do get frustrated when I meet this type of people. But we move on and have no intention of stopping. We believe in this issue and want to help those who can see the benefits, not those who refuse to change.” It all began as a personal crusade.

Reading an article on schoolchildren collecting newspapers once a year for a recycling project in 1996, Theseira and Ooi, 58, felt that while their effort was commendable, the approach was wrong. “Recycling should be done every day, not once a year.

That was when we decided to organise a recycling project for our housing area.” Their idea is simple – keep the environment clean while raising funds for charity.

They get their friends and neighbours at Taman Bukit Indah, Bukit Mertajam, to recycle 10 household items everyday. Every six weeks, everyone will assemble at the couple’s home and gather together the recyclable materials.

The items are sold to a contractor, who issues a cheque addressed to a charity association of their choice. Since they started, they have raised RM37,082 from 54 recycling campaigns. Through word of mouth, the “Don and Mylene method” of recycling has got around.

But their idea is no longer confined to their housing area. It has spread to various parts of Penang and even to Kuala Lumpur. They have been invited to talk at schools, churches, factories, companies and housing areas on the benefits of starting a recycling project.

For their tireless efforts, they were recognised by Reader’s Digest Association as “Everyday Heroes” in 2000. Theseira says that even before they had started the project, they had been conscious of keeping the environment clean.

They refused to buy things in plastic, bought refill products and brought their shopping bag to the market. Ooi says when they embarked on the project, there were people who said it would not work. “But once we explained the benefits to them, they were open to the idea and the response was great. It was worth the effort even when we had to travel at our own expense.

We have given 120 talks to a cross-section of society and the momentum is gaining.” Ooi says the best way to tackle the issue is at source. That means looking around your house, where you are sure to find many things that can be recycled.

The aim of their recycling project is to achieve zero waste. It can be done if everyone practises reduction, buys clean production, recycles and does composting, she says.

“Reduction means that you don’t buy things you don’t need. You buy clean production and not refill packs, recycle 10 items every day and use the composting system for your wet waste. “We have achieved zero waste in our home. The garbage collector who comes round to our house every two days doesn’t have anything to collect, ” she says. “It is a simple, workable and effective method of recycling.

If every household, school and hospital does its part, we would not need incinerators.

It is the people who will eventually make a difference.” On why Malaysians are lackadaisical towards recycling, Theseira says it is due to their “couldn’t care less” attitude and the general lack of information. What information is available, they say, is often misleading. People throw things such as old television sets and mattresses into the river or wherever is convenient because they have no idea what to do with such things.

“We should teach them how to dispose of these items. For example, you can sell an old bicycle as scrap. Instead of polluting the river you can get money if you sell these items.” That is why, says Ooi, instead of setting up more recycling centres with tri-coloured bins, which to them is a waste of money, there should be more information on how to recycle properly.

Theseira and Ooi say they never get tired of talking to people about the importance of recycling. “There is only a small percentage of people who do not respond to recycling. But the feedback has been encouraging. When we see people start their recycling project at their housing estates, schools or hospitals after listening to our talk, we are encouraged to continue talking to and educating people about this.

“We are making an impact. Our work has not been in vain.”

KUALA LUMPUR: There is money to be made in recycling.

When Don Theseira and Mylene Ooi sold their first batch of newspapers to a recycling contractor, they made about RM2,500.

They had collected the newspapers from about 300 households in the neighbourhood.

They also thought it was a great way to make people think about recycling.

When Ooi discovered that a glass company was willing to buy recycled glass, she guided her neighbours to them.

The couple makes an average of RM400 a month re-selling items such as tins, glass and paper to their contractor.

And instead of taking cash, the contractor writes a cheque for the amount agreed upon, payable to the couple’s charity of choice.

The Lam Wah Ee Hospital in Penang, where the couple gave a talk a few years ago, started recycling household and hospital waste in 2002.

“They have generated RM83,000, which is used for the staff,” said Ooi.