MPPP secretary Patahiyah Ismail said they hoped to educate the students in a bid to reduce the amount of rubbish produced by Penangites.

"We produced 550 tonnes of rubbish per day in 2000 but now we are producing 700 tonnes per day.

"Each Penangite is producing an average of 1kg of rubbish daily," she said during a green awareness campaign at SK Convent Pulau Tikus yesterday.

Organised by the MPPP and the Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association (MPMA), the campaign is known as 'Local Agenda 21' and aims to nurture in the young a connection to the environment.

Patahiyah, who was representing MPPP president Tan Cheng Chui, said the school pledged to ban the use of polystyrene effective yesterday.

"A few special bins have also been prepared for the pupils. They can throw their used plastic bags into these binds for recycling.

"We will also set up a recycling bank. A committee made up by students will collect recycling materials and sell them to a recycling agent.

'The money earned, will then be distributed among the students," she said.

When asked about imposing higher license fees among hawkers to discourage the use of polystyrene, Patahiyah said the council would consider it.

"Why not? We can look into the possibility," she said.

It was earlier reported that the state government was mulling over the 'polluters-must-pay' policy in its bid to discourage the use of polystyrene items which had been found to be major aedes mosquito breeding grounds.

Those caught littering with polystyrene items will be slapped with heavier fines proposed by the authorities.

MPMA (northern branch) executive secretary K A Tan said the association hoped to encourage students to put plastic bags to good use.

"We want to encourage them to reuse and recycle plastic bags," he said.