A seller shows off shopping bags made from recyclyed packets of coffee mix.

CAN drinking more coffee help the environment? In Myanmar at least, the answer could be yes.

Environmental campaigners have been keen to communicate that consumption is not the answer to the world’s looming environmental meltdown; to avert crisis we must adjust our lifestyles so that we consume less and deal responsibly with the waste we produce.

One local organisation working to change attitudes is the Myanmar Environmental Group (MEG), which currently has about fifty young people working to spread the environmental message. Set up in 2008 by U Maung Thein Pe, an environmentalist from Rakhine State, the organisation runs regular training courses.

“We teach people about the environment, the warming world, the ozone layer, water pollution, air pollution etc. We were not taught these lessons when we were young so we didn’t know how to love our world. But now young people are very interested and they want to help the environment,” said MEG member U Sithu Lwin who runs the training courses.

“We need to study what is happening around the world, especially with the environment and we have to communicate this knowledge to children and young people so we often go to schools, churches and youth centres. To get their attention we bring toys and snacks and teach them with stories, presentations and comedy,” said Ma Khin Wint Hninsi, who is also a teacher.

The organisation focuses on changing people’s behaviour in small but environmentally beneficial ways. For example, education sessions at schools and youth centres feature colourful bags made from used packets of coffee mix. The bags are an example of how all sorts of waste can be reused, given a little ingenuity and time.

The idea comes from Myeik in Tanintharyi Division and may have crept over the border from Thailand, according to MEG member Ko Tun Tun Naing. The bags come in six sizes, from small ones suitable for holding pens and money to basket sized shopping bags. The used packets are collected from internet cafés and school children also collect them from their homes.

“To make a recycled bag I need to sew for almost an hour and I must have sixty clean packets. Most people think it takes a long time to clean sixty packets but if we clean and dry them as soon as we drink the coffee, it saves us time,” said Daw Kyi Kyi Nyaut.

Since the ban on the least biodegradable plastic bags on November 30 many individuals and businesses are beginning to take note of the new types of bags on offer, argues Ko Tun Tun Naing.

“I now use the recycled plastic bag that my daughter told me to use and which I bought from a youth group for K2000. Actually, my daughter wanted me to sew the used coffee mix packets that were spread throughout the house but at the time I couldn’t sew them. Though my daughter is only 10-years old, she is now careful not to create any plastic waste, which is something she learned at school,” said Yangon resident Daw Khin Khin Mya.