KOTA KINABALU: It is not only domestic waste but refrigerators, television sets and car bumpers are amongst the load of garbage washed ashore from the mainland here to resort islands nearby.
Because of this, some resort operators had to set up nets and collect garbage on their own initiative daily to ensure the beaches and coastal area remain clean.
Such move was taken by Mari-Mari resort in Pulau Sepanggar here, in a bid to ensure their image as a tourist attraction was not affected especially amongst foreign tourists.
It was learnt that the resort workers had to send over 150 sacks of waste to the mainland every three or four days for demolition, where the garbage are believed to have come from the city and water villages.
An observation by NSTP found most of those caught in the nets are plastic bags, bottles, diapers and other domestic wastes.
Mari Mari’s manager Jesika Maiba, 27, said every day, as early as 6.30am, several staff will be tasked to collecting the garbage caught in the nets before visitors start arriving at about 10am.
“If the weather is good which means less winds and the currents are not strong, there are less garbage brought in but when it is high tide, the nets would catch so many garbage,” she told NSTP.
Jesika said amongst the many things they have 'collected' included television sets and refrigerators.
She hoped the authorities concerned or the government would find a suitable solution to solve this problem once and for all.
“The government also needs to tighten the laws to bring awareness to the public not to litter, especially those living along the beaches or the coastal area.
“This is because we have to pick up garbage that come from outside (our resort) every day, I believe this year alone to date we had collected over 20 tonnes of waste,” she lamented.