By Raveen VJ
The Ipoh City Council (MBI) must distribute free rubbish bins to all shops and premises that still don’t have bins to dispose of their rubbish. All shops in Ipoh should be strictly enforced to only place their rubbish inside bins and place them in front of their respective shops. Periodic spot-checks to ensure compliance must also be done.
Given the poor attitude of many Malaysians towards littering, rubbish dumping and general environmental cleanliness, such governmental actions are very much-needed. Awareness campaigns aren’t effective in such cases. The government can no longer expect shop owners to willingly buy their own bins, let alone place their rubbish only in front of their shops.
The main, longstanding problem is that shop workers irresponsibly throw their rubbish bags at road junctions and back alleys randomly during the day. Many don’t utilize bins. The reasoning is that those particular sites are routine collection points by the rubbish trucks. The main problem is, such actions encourage other irresponsible individuals to randomly litter or dump their own rubbish at those sites.
This ends up ruining the environmental cleanliness of Ipoh city, posing a public health threat to Ipoh citizens, and tarnishes the city’s image, especially towards foreign tourists.
The responsible, environmentally-conscious way to effectively handle this is for MBI to distribute free rubbish bins to all shops and premises in Ipoh, and strictly ensure the rubbish is only placed inside said bins and that those bins are always placed in front of the respective shops. Only the rubbish collection workers should collect the rubbish bags from those bins and place them at the respective collection sites and only at the time of collection. These will require amending MBI’s small licensing laws.
This longstanding issue must be given high priority by MBI for the sake of Ipoh’s public health, environmental cleanliness, and general image. Other crucial actions that can help include installing more CCTV cameras at rubbish dumping hotspots and expediting the banning of single-use plastics in Ipoh.
If there’s one thing that tourists value and leave a lasting impression on them, it’s the cleanliness of the cities they visit. Given how crucial tourism is to our country’s economy and in light of the Visit Malaysia 2026 campaign, ideally all local councils throughout the country should be undertaking these actions as well.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Ipoh Echo
