Article For Brunei Times

To: The Letters Editor (Opinion section) The Brunei Times, 3rd Floor, Wisma Haji Mohd. Taha, Jalan Gadong BE 4119 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. Email: [email protected]. We would like share our concern about waste cooking oil problems in Brunei Darussalam. Waste cooking oil, also known as used cooking oil or recovered vegetable oil result from the cooking of food by home cookers, food

manufacturers

and

catering

establishment

such

as

restaurants and industrial kitchens. We have found in our survey that some restaurants in Brunei give away their waste cooking oil for hawkers to reuse in cooking. The usage of cooking oil more than once poses threats to the health of the community before it affects the environment as a result of improper disposal. A toxic compound – HNE will accumulate over time and this will react with amino acids, DNA and other biomolecule in the human body. This leads to diseases such as heart diseases, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, liver and other diseases. We have also found that many people in Brunei pour their waste oil down drains and do not send their waste cooking oil for recycling. Waste cooking oil when poured down drains:

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1. causes drains and sewers to be blocked up if it is being disposed in the drain. If saturated oil is used, the oil will tend to solidify which result in the blockage of house drains and sewers as well as have a masking effect on biological growth. The sewage treatment may not work properly if waste oil is drained into it. 2. they may eventually end up in rivers, streams or ponds. This oil causes a disastrous effect on any kind of life forms in the rivers, streams or ponds as they kill fish, birds and water plants as a lot of water will be contaminated. 3. When waste oil is poured on the ground, “logging” problems

arise. This is because the soil will become sealed off from air and water, killing the earth worms and bacteria necessary for regeneration. Therefore it makes sense to not dispose of waste cooking oil down the drain or on the ground but to collect the waste cooking oil to be recycled or reused for other purposes. Many companies in Malaysia, India, Iran, Thailand, China and United Arab Emirates collect and buy waste cooking oil for the production of biodiesel, which can be used as car fuel. There are also cars that run on waste cooking oil itself without being converted into biodiesel. Therefore, we would like to suggest that waste cooking oil be collected by Bruneians for recycling or be used with cars running on waste cooking oil. We hope that this letter will bring us one step towards living in a more sustainable environment in Brunei Darussalam.

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Safura Binti Dato Seri Setia Haji Lamit. Rufaidah Binti Haji Ibrahim. JM Qistina Rangga Hartini Binti Hassim. Fourth year Students of PS 3403; A Multidisciplinary Approach for A

Sustainable

Environment

course.

Darussalam.

3

University

of

Brunei