The Institution of Engineers Malaysia-Student Section, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn, Malaysia (IEMSS-UTHM) and Civil Engineering Club – UTHM (KKA) hosted an event named “BEACH HEROES”, a CSR programme at Tanjung Lompat, Desaru, Kota Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia on 12 November 2022.
The event was sponsored by Wentel Engineering Sdn. Bhd., a sheet metal fabricator located in Larkin, Johor Bahru, and in collaboration with MNSJ (Malaysian Nature Society Johor Branch). The purpose of this event is to clean the beach and increase the awareness in taking care of the environment.
A total of 134 participants from UTHM, Wentel Engineering Sdn. Bhd. and MNJS participated in the event. A total of 58 bags of trash (weighing approximately 170-180 kg) were collected from Tanjung Lompat were mostly from irresponsible visitors to the beach who discarded rubbish indiscriminately. The trash collected consisted mainly of plastic drinking bottles, polystyrene containers, discarded fishing nets & ropes, cigarette butts, and others.
Mr Tai, Chairman of ESG from Wentel Engineering Sdn. Bhd., expressed that such programmes help cultivate the spirit of cooperation by the public in keeping our beaches and public areas clean, increasing community awareness on the importance of conservation and the role of community can play in caring and protecting the environment.
After the clean-up activity, lunch was served to all the participants. They also arranged some interactive activities after the lunch. First interactive activity is a game called “Hidden from Venom” which was organised by the students from UTHM. The purpose of the game is to strengthen the relationship between the students and engineers from Wentel Engineering Sdn. Bhd.
The second interactive activity was a nature walk conducted by MNSJ where the students were led to a small forest, approximately 15-minute walk from the beach. The path in the forest led to another part of the beach with prehistoric rock formations and where it was more secluded.
A pair of Malaysian Plovers (an uncommon, Near-threatened species of migratory shorebird), Collared Kingfisher, Lineated Barbet, Dollarbird, Asian Glossy Starlings, Brown-throated Sunbird, Great Crested Terns, Common Tailorbird, Common Sandpiper, Ashy Minivets, Yellow-vented bulbuls, and Pied Imperial Pigeons.
Chris Ng, Programme Director of Beach Heroes, said the programme was successful and both participants and committee were satisfied with the programme which had helped to impress on the participants about keeping the beach clean and how such trash creates adverse impacts on the environment and the marine habitats.