ARTICLE TRAILER COMPETITION

FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

RULES AND GUIDELINES

1.0 INTRODUCTION

A trailer is a preview for an upcoming film that contains a series of selected

noteworthy scenes from the film used to attract audience. The article trailer is
similar to a movie trailer, interpreted from a given article.

The Article Trailer Competition aims to encourage pupils to exercise their critical
reading skills based on an article. Pupils should be able to comprehend the text
and interpret it into a trailer. This competition serves as a platform for pupils to
express and demonstrate creative ideas in their work as well as motivates them
to use the English language confidently and therefore improve their command of
the language. It is hoped that this competition can also instill values amongst
pupils to be more sensitive about current issues.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

2.1 To support the nation’s efforts to encourage the use of the English language
amongst students.
2.2 To enhance pupils’ critical reading skills as they produce a trailer to express
their interpretation of the text.

2.3 To provide the opportunity for students to show their talent and creativity in
producing a trailer through the use of the English language.

3.0 ELIGIBILITY

3.1 This competition is open to all Form 1 to Form 5 pupils (ONLY FOR
SECONDARY SCHOOLS) from government aided schools under the
purview of the Ministry of Education.

3.2 Each entry comprises of 1 to 3 participants from the same school.

4.0 TIME

Article Trailer Competition : Rules and Guidelines 6

 4.1 The duration of the trailer should be 2 to 4 minutes. Failure to abide by this
time frame will incur a deduction in marks.

5.0 PRODUCTION

5.1 Trailers should be based on only ONE article from the list provided by the
Ministry of Education Malaysia in Appendix A. (ALL in all -5 articles to
choose from)

5.2 Participants are allowed to create a trailer based on their creativity but it
should not represent or involve any sensitive issues such as race or religion
stereotyping, politics, gender or cultural discrimination, etc.

5.3 Participants are allowed to use a green or blue screen and any video-editing
tools when creating the trailer. Participants are also encouraged to use
virtual props ( to personalise and allow interaction on screen- adding

stickers, doodles, booth stickers – apps for prop samples ) ,

Computer Generated Images (CGI) (computer graphics)

or special effects (music, text animation, apps available

FilmoraGo, Funimate, InShot, recommended to use royalty free sites, for
music, images, etc.). Sites to check out: Storyblocks, Bensound, Purple-
planet, YouTube Audio Library(but need to refer to music policies before
applying to videos), FlexClip’s pre-made video templates, etc.

5.4 The trailer must be submitted in landscape mode.

5.5 Usage of Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) Cameras or any other type of
Video Cameras to shoot the video is encouraged. The shot must be at least
of High Definition (HD) Quality at minimum 1280x720 and maximum
1920x1080 resolution.

5.6 Safety should be ensured at all times during the recording and production of
the trailer.

5.7 It is compulsory to use the English language throughout the trailer.

Notwithstanding, limited use of certain local Malaysian registers are allowed.

Article Trailer Competition : Rules and Guidelines 6

 5.8 The trailer must not have English subtitles.

5.9 Use of vulgar words and gestures and gruesome scenes are strictly prohibited
and videos that include sensitive issues such as politics or race will be
disqualified.

5.10 Participants should not portray indecent actions or excessive movements

that are provocative.

5.11 Participants should wear appropriate (decent) attire in accordance to the

characters they portray in the trailer.

5.12 Trailers must be the pupil’s own work, authentic and original and must never
have been published or have won a prize in any other competition prior to
this competition.

5.13 All sources presented in the trailer including the sound(s) or song(s) must be
cited in the trailer to credit the original source. The list of sources will also
need to be submitted together with the registration form. Plagiarized works
will be disqualified immediately.

5.14 Professional assistance is NOT allowed in the creation of the trailer. Adults
may assist with production and assistance should be limited to verbal
guidance only.

5.15 The school’s name, in any form, should not be exposed throughout the trailer.

6.0 SUBMISSION

6.1 Trailers must be saved in MP4/3GP/AVI/MOV/WMV file and uploaded via a

link provided by the organizer. The organizer will not be responsible for
corrupt files submitted.

6.2 The video file must be named accordingly; <School><Article

Number><Participant/Team’s Name> (eg. SMKSP_3_Maladevi)

6.3 All trailers upon submission cannot be corrected or edited. Trailers

submitted via schools will be going through district and state or national level
without any editing incurred.

6.4 Video submitted will not be returned to the owner and the organizer reserves
the right to publish the winning videos of this competition. However, the
copyright remains as the property of the owner.

Article Trailer Competition : Rules and Guidelines 6

 6.5 The organizer will not be liable for any form of claim related to plagiarism
against participants by any relevant party.

7.0 ADJUDICATION

7.1 A panel of at least 3 or 5 judges will be appointed for all the rounds at all
levels. The competition at the national level will be judged by a panel of 5
judges, appointed by the Sports, Co-curricular and Arts Division, Ministry of
Education Malaysia.

7.2 Judging will be based on the following criteria:

7.2.1 Creativity of Interpretation 20 %

7.2.2 Language 20%

7.2.3 Performance 20 %

7.2.4 Overall Coordination & Quality 30 %

7.2.5 Positive Values / Message(s) 10 %

Total 100%

7.3 Penalty: A total of 5 marks will be deducted if:

7.3.1 performance is below or above designated timeframe.

7.3.2 stipulated exclusions under competition guidelines are infringed

(infringement of competition rules)

7.4 Points will be allocated according to the judging criteria.

7.5 The participant with the majority of votes will be declared the winner.

7.6 The decision of the judges is final. No appeal is allowed.

7.7 Individual marks will not be disclosed.

8.0 PRIZES

Article Trailer Competition : Rules and Guidelines 6

 8.1 Prizes are awarded as follows:

• Champion

• Second Prize winner

• Third Prize winner

• Two Consolation Prize winners

8.2 Trophies and certificates of achievement will be awarded to the winners.

Certificates of participation will be awarded to all participants.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

*This concept paper is valid as of 2021 until further notification or revision from the Ministry of
Education and can be used at all levels for competitions organised by the Ministry. The
competition will abide to the above rules ONLY.

*All rights reserved by the Ministry of Education Malaysia. Usage or adaptation by any entities
outside of the ministry requires prior permission.

Division of Sports, Co- Curricular and Arts Division

Ministry of Education Malaysia

Article Trailer Competition : Rules and Guidelines 6

 ARTICLE TRAILER
COMPETITION
FOR
SECONDARY SCHOOLS

ADJUDICATION
FORMS
 ARTICLE TRAILER COMPETITION
FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS
SCOPE OF ADJUDICATION: A GUIDE

Creativity of interpretation Language
Performance (20%)
(20%) (20%)
Suitable voice over (a
• Original / novel (new, never voice recording
•
been used, never thought of (scripted) of someone
before) / unique interpretation you can’t see – off
• •
camera narration or
• Relevant and well presented dialogue eg… for
cartoon characters,
theme
(kindness/friendship/environmen when a thought is
• shared, an
t/
Health etc) introduction is made,
• reviews in an ongoing
• Significance (importance/worthy movier/article trailer)
of attention) and impact of may explore voice
meaning (on over apps in
community/environment/audienc playstore
e etc)
Overall dialogue /
• Interesting and engaging pronunciation
(audience is able to relate to the comprehensible
content portrayed)
Good fluency
Appropriate language
register
Positive
Overall
Values /
Coordination &
Message
Quality (20%)
(10%)
• Confident and • Development and • Clear
expressive delivery coherence (scenes and
timing)
Emphasized
• Compelling
characters • Editing (transition, flow)
• Well projected
(attention grabbers)
• Design (overlays, visual
• Clear voice cues)
modulation and
voice projection • Cinematography
(how you control (composition of the
your voice when recording, camerawork)
speaking. Ability to
change the
• Audio (sounds and
message by varying
the : tone, stress on music)
words, pitch, and
changing the rate of • Sources and credits
speech. Effective slide
voice modulation
can mean the
difference between • Entertainment value
boring and
captivating.)
• Relevant props &
costumes
 TIME SHEET

ARTICLE TRAILER COMPETITION

FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS
_______________ LEVEL / YEAR _________

Participant/Team Duration of video

No. (minutes)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Timekeeper's
Name

Signature

Date
 SCORE SHEET

ARTICLE TRAILER COMPETITION FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS _______________ LEVEL / YEAR _________
Judge’s Name: _________________________________ Date : ________________________
No Overall Positive
Creativity of Coordination and Values / Penalty
Language Performance
Interpretation Quality Message Comments (Max. Time Total Placing
(20 marks) (20 marks)
(20 marks) 5 marks)
(30 marks) (10 marks)
1

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Signature : _________________________________
 FREQUENCY COUNT

ARTICLE TRAILER COMPETITION FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

_______________ LEVEL / YEAR _________

JUDGE
1 2 3 4 5
PLACING TIME RESULT
PARTICIPANT

Position Name Signature

Judge 1
Judge 2
Judge 3
Judge 4
Judge 5
Date
 ARTICLE TRAILER
COMPETITION
FOR
SECONDARY SCHOOLS

RESULTS

RESULT

ARTICLE TRAILER COMPETITION FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

_______________ LEVEL / YEAR _________
PLACING PARTICIPANT/TEAM STATE / SCHOOL TITLE OF TRAILER
 CHAMPION

SECOND

THIRD

FIRST
CONSOLATION

SECOND
CONSOLATION

Position Name Signature

Chief Judge
Judge 1
Judge 2
Judge 3
Judge 4
Date
 ARTICLE TRAILER
COMPETITION
FOR
SECONDARY SCHOOLS

APPENDIX A:
LIST OF ARTICLES

ARTICLE TRAILER COMPETITION FOR

SECONDARY SCHOOLS

APPENDIX A
LIST OF ARTICLES

Reference Title of articles

Article 1 The Act of Kindness: Best Part of A Man’s Life

Article 2 A Surf Board Drifted from Hawaii to the Philippines and

Started a Friendship Between the Two Owners
Article 3 Malaysians' non-compliance with rules is pushing up
Covid-19 cases

Article 4 Plastic In The Ocean

Article 5 Virgin Space Flight Takes Off

 Article Trailer Competition: Article 1
1

ARTICLE 1

The Act of Kindness: Best Part of A Man’s Life

The Act of Kindness Makes Our Lives Look Worthy

As it is rightly said, ‘Kindness is everything in this world’. It is really a true deep thought.
And people those who realize the essence of act of kindness prosper quite well in their
lives. A person is known to this world by his own deeds and nothing else. So, whatever
he does for others proves his very existence in this planet. To do something good for
someone is possibly the best part of a man’s life.

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second
is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.” ― Henry James

How is the Act of Kindness More Crucial than Other Qualities?

Well, you may find a person with outstanding skills and marvelous intellect, but he might
not have a good heart. Education and knowledge teaches us how to sustain in this
competitive world but to be known as a good human being, you have got to have a good
heart. Then only your existence in this world is valued. So, the act of kindness proves to
be of tremendous importance.

“The true essence of humankind is kindness. There are other qualities which come
from education or knowledge, but it is essential, if one wishes to be a genuine
human being and impart satisfying meaning to one’s existence, to have a good
heart.” ― Tenzin Gyatso (1935), The 14th Dalai Lama (B. 1935)

Kindness is always Reciprocated!

People generally tend to avoid the difficult tasks in their lives and it is quite natural too.
One such difficult task is to inculcate the act of kindness in you.
You might feel that doing something for others is an easy task; but when you realize that
the task you’ve done is easy, then it might not be the required task at that particular
time, maybe the man needed something else.
People who have a good heart must always realize that in one way or the other, their good
deeds are always reciprocated.

“One of the most difficult things to give away is kindness; usually it comes back
to you.” ― Anonymous
 Article Trailer Competition: Article 1 2

The End Note: It is Indeed the Best Part of a Man’s Life

In a nutshell, we can conclude that the act of kindness is well and truly the best part of a
man’s life. There exists no other good deed that is better than doing something good for
others that helps them in their way. In a way, you feel confident and a ray of happiness
starts surrounding in your life when you help others.
It is a completely natural feeling and just can’t be expressed in these mere words. Make
your life worthy by start doing something and helping others in any possible way. Your
help might just be the help they just need and you will surely get blessings from them.

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.

Kindness in giving creates love.” ― Lao Tzu

Source:
Kabra, H. (2020, April 23). The act of kindness: Best part of a man’s life. Be An Inspirer.
https://www.beaninspirer.com/the-act-of-kindness-best-part-of-a-mans-life/
 Article Trailer Competition: Article 2
1

ARTICLE 2

A Surf Board Drifted from Hawaii to the Philippines and Started a

Friendship Between the Two Owners

It traveled over 5,000 miles across the ocean and was still in one piece.
Doug Falter returned home on the evening of February 3, 2018, teary-eyed and
exhausted. The 33-year-old professional photographer had just run from one end of
Hawaii’s Waimea Bay to the other—the length of three football fields—while frantically
scanning the water like a starving seabird in search of a fish. Still not finding what he
was looking for after more than an hour, he tried scaling some nearby rocks to get a
better view. But by then, night had started to fall.

At home, Falter took his search online. “Was surfing tonight and lost my baby,” he wrote
on Facebook. That “baby” was a ten-and-a-half-foot-long baby blue surfboard that had
been custom-made for him. Hours earlier, the crash of a big wave and the powerful
swells of the bay had separated Falter from this prized possession.

“I caught the biggest waves of my life on that board,” Falter later said. “That’s why it means
so much to me.”
He hoped it would wash ashore in the coming days and that whoever spotted it would
have also seen his Facebook post. But instead of pushing Falter’s surfboard to shore,
the currents of Waimea Bay swept it out to sea, away from Oahu and from the Hawaiian
Islands altogether.
Weeks passed with no sign of the surfboard. Then months. Lyle Carlson, who had
customized the board for Falter, told him of another lost surfboard that was found—four
years later—after a fisherman hooked it. “That did give me hope,” Falter says, “but by
that time I was like, ‘I just have to forget about it.’ ” He saved for months to buy a new
custom surfboard, for $1,500. “Those boards aren’t cheap,” he says.
But Falter never completely forget about the board, which—six months after and more
than 5,000 miles away from where it disappeared—floated by the remote island of
Sarangani in the southern Philippines. The local fisherman who found it didn’t have
much use for his unusual catch of the day, so he sold the board to Giovanne Branzuela,
a 36year-old elementary school teacher. Branzuela hoped to learn to surf and one day
share the skill with his students, who regularly accompany him on beach cleanups.
“It’s been my dream to ride the big waves here,” Branzuela says. He bought Falter’s
surfboard for $40.
The once-blue board had faded to a pale straw color during its journey, but its distinctive
markings were still there: two elephants, one at either end, each framed in a diamond
emblem. Underneath the emblems were the words “Lyle Carlson Surfboards, Oahu,
Hawaii.”

Article Trailer Competition: Article 2 2

“I couldn’t believe it,” Branzuela said on realizing how far the surfboard had traveled. He
reached out to Carlson online last July and sent him a photo of the board. Carlson, in
turn, reached out to Falter, who then contacted Branzuela directly to ask for more
photos. Those extra shots confirmed the board was his. Falter was shocked to learn
that his
“baby” had drifted across the world’s largest ocean—and survived. “It was the craziest
thing I had ever heard,” Falter says.
He was ecstatic, but not only for himself. “When I heard this guy bought it because he
wanted to learn how to surf, I thought, ‘This is the coolest way I could have ever lost
$1,500.’ ” Seeing interest in the sport grow means a lot to Falter. “I couldn’t imagine a
better ending to this story,” he says.
But the story was far from over. Even now, months later, Falter and Branzuela are in
contact almost every day. The coronavirus pandemic has delayed their plans to meet in
person, but Falter knows his surfboard is in safe hands in the Philippines. “I told him I
would take good care of it,” Branzuela says.
In the meantime, Falter wanted to thank Branzuela with some surfing supplies, but the
teacher asked for school supplies instead, such as backpacks for his students and
materials to help them learn English.
“That fueled me to raise money for the kids,” Falter says. So far, he has collected
$2,500, which he has used to buy and ship maps, puzzles, classroom posters,
textbooks, and workbooks, along with beloved children’s titles like Charlotte’s Web and
The BFG as well as volumes in the Harry Potter series. “I’m just happy for the
opportunity to do something good,” Falter says.
As for the surfboard, Falter is delighted that Branzuela is using it, if only for splashing
around in shallow waters, since he is a novice. When Branzuela bought the board, he
had no idea it was made specifically for a man of his exact size. “It’s pretty wild—we’re
the same height,” Falter says of the happy coincidence. When the two men finally do
meet for the handoff, Falter plans to make it an even exchange by giving Branzuela a
brandnew board. And before he leaves the Philippines, Falter wants to do what
Branzuela hoped the board would do: teach him to surf.

Source:
Goodman, E. (2021, January 22). A surf board drifted from Hawaii to the Philippines and started
a friendship between the two owners. Reader’s Digest. https://www.rd.com/article/surf-
boardtravels-hawaii-to-philippines/
 Article Trailer Competition: Article 3
1

ARTICLE 3

Malaysians' non-compliance with rules is pushing up Covid-19 cases

PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, XINHUA) - Not wearing face
masks properly and a half-hearted attitude towards physical distancing are contributing
to the high number of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, say health experts.

"This can often be seen among service staff, food vendors, waiters at restaurants,
construction workers and in offices in the private and government sectors," said
Malaysian Medical Association president Subramaniam Muniandy.

There should be an increased presence of enforcement personnel and the authorities

should consider employing undercover or plainclothes enforcement personnel to
monitor outlets and offices, said Datuk Dr Subramaniam. Professor Moy Foong Ming,
from Universiti Malaya's Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, pointed out that
more summonses were issued for not wearing face masks in the first three weeks of
January this year compared to the first three weeks of December.

"We really need to understand why people are still not wearing masks when Covid-19
cases are so high. Is it because of SOP (standard operating procedure) fatigue, they
believe that they will not get infected or they cannot afford masks?" said Prof Moy.

Purchasing single-use face masks could become a financial burden to low-income

earners even though prices had dropped, she said, encouraging them to switch to
reusable masks.

"It is not advisable to reuse single-use masks as they may be contaminated after a long
day of use. Reusing it may put the person at risk of being infected with Covid-19," she
said.

"Masks stop people - especially those who are asymptomatic - from unintentionally
spreading the virus to others," Prof Moy added.

"For example, the risk of Covid-19 transmission between two people will be low if both
are wearing masks, moderate if only one is wearing it and high when both are not using
it." When wearing a mask, the nose, mouth and chin must be covered, she said, adding
that the mask should not be loose, especially on the sides.
"It should fit properly without affecting breathing. When removing a used face mask,
hold only the ear loops. After disposing of the mask properly, one must wash both
hands with soap and water," she said.

Article Trailer Competition: Article 3 2

"The same face mask should not be worn for more than eight hours and should be
changed if it becomes moist."

Health Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah has recently reminded Malaysians to wear
face masks properly.

"Do not pull the face mask to your chin. This is a face mask, not a chin cover," he said.

Malaysia on Wednesday reported 3,680 new Covid-19 infections, bringing the national
cumulative total to 194,114, with 707 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins
University.

Source:
Malaysians' non-compliance with rules is pushing up Covid-19 cases. (2021, January 28). The
Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysians-non-compliance-with-
rulesis-pushing-up-covid-19-cases-say-health-experts
Article Trailer Competition: Article 4 1

ARTICLE 4

Plastic In The Ocean

Twenty eighteen was the year of the plastic straw. News segments, think pieces, hot
takes, and social media posts declared plastic straws public enemy number one. The
story had everything: a kid on a mission against the corporate world, a gut-wrenching
video of a sea turtle with a straw stuck in its nose, an easy-to-understand and ubiquitous
problem. We also had a clear resolution requiring hardly any sacrifice: To save the
environment, we just had to stop using plastic straws.

Cutting back or even banning single-use straws would certainly help keep them out of
our oceans. But would it be enough?

“Wouldn’t that be nice,” says Erin Simon, WWF’s director of sustainability research and
development, half laughing, half sighing. Simon is a materials scientist who has worked
with some of the world’s biggest corporations to find planet-friendly packaging solutions.
And as it turns out, the issue of plastic overrunning our environment is a bit more
complicated than straws.

Our plastic problem

The problem of plastic in nature, particularly in our oceans, is a global crisis. Every
minute, about a dump-truck load of plastic goes into the oceans, sullying beaches,
hurting wildlife, and contaminating our food supply.

“It's reached this public-awareness tipping point,” says Sheila Bonini, senior vice
president of private sector engagement at WWF. “Sometimes an issue can go on for a
long time and nothing happens; then, suddenly, boom! The world wakes up, and we
have the opportunity to drive change.”

Yet eliminating all plastic from our lives is neither feasible nor desirable. Plastic has a lot
of benefits, environmental and otherwise: It keeps our food fresh so we waste less; it’s
sterile; it’s durable. And, once we’re done with it, it can be turned into something new.
So how can we keep these benefits while keeping plastic out of nature?

“The problem is that as a population we have continued to innovate and create new
ways to use plastic—to the point that we are dependent on plastic in our everyday
lives,” says Simon. Of all the plastic ever made, half was made in the past 15 years. But
we don’t know what to do with all this plastic once we’re finished with it. “Today science
tells us that the majority of plastic waste ending up in oceans is coming from land,
specifically due to limited or nonexistent waste management,” says Simon. “You can
Article Trailer Competition: Article 4 2

make something 100% recyclable, but if you don’t have a recycling facility, it just ends
up as trash.”

In the US, even though we collect almost 100% of the most common type of plastic,
polyethylene terephthalate, or PET (your standard soda bottle), only about 30% is
recycled. It gets tossed in the trash, it gets contaminated, or there aren’t recycling
systems to handle it. The situation is worse in developing nations, where the global
economy has brought a flood of plastic into places without adequate waste
management. Best-case scenario: Whatever plastic isn’t recycled goes to a landfill.
Worst case: It gets dumped into nature.

Turning off the tap

When it comes to our oceans, “I think the first response everyone has to seeing plastic
waste is that it doesn’t belong there, so let’s just get rid of it,” says Simon. But while
cleaning up the oceans is critical, she says, it’s not the first step. When the sink is
flooding, you don’t start with the mop; you start by turning off the tap.

Stopping the flow of plastic means fixing a broken and fragmented system. There are
opportunities at every point in the plastic life cycle: We can make plastic from renewable
resources, manufacture goods that are recyclable and require less plastic, consume
less, and make sure as much plastic is recycled as possible. We also need to ensure
solutions don’t negatively impact the environment in other ways. Everybody has a role
here: companies, the waste management industry, governments, and consumers.

Branded garbage

Companies with household names are helping to lead the charge. Because they rely on
their reputations, Bonini says, they’ve already got skin in the game: “One company
executive said to us, ‘I don’t want to be the producer of branded garbage.’”

Companies have control over how they package products, how raw materials for plastic
are sourced, and how products are packaged for delivery—and they can even shift
consumer behavior. But today, companies aren’t equipped with a road map of how to fix
the broken system. WWF has created an “activation hub,” called ReSource: Plastic, to
close that “how” gap.

ReSource helps companies who have already made ambitious plastic waste reduction
commitments turn their aspirations into meaningful, measurable actions. It starts by
partnering with a company to identify which changes will make the biggest cuts in the
company’s plastics footprint and to establish a tracking system to measure progress.
Next, it helps the company implement those changes, providing expert advice along
Article Trailer Competition: Article 4 3

with a suite of tools and step-by-step guidance (including the publication No Plastic in
Nature: A Practical Guide for Business Engagement). And because nothing multiplies
impact like collaboration, ReSource: Plastic connects companies, stakeholders, and
governments so they can share discoveries and investments.

This approach includes developing new technologies to recycle materials we never

thought could be recycled, like diapers. Through strategic and innovative collaborations,
some companies are also actively engaging other sectors, including waste
management. For example Procter & Gamble is forming partnerships to advance the
infrastructure needed to recycle a full range of materials, with hopes of accelerating
further investment in scalable technologies.

Jack McAneny, director of sustainability at P&G, says the power of cross-value chain
collaboration is key. “We want to share new technology around recycling and recovery,
since we are not a recycler at heart,” he says. “We benefit from more scale; it helps us
achieve our vision.”

Scale is definitely key. One company’s efforts are great, but 100 of the world’s biggest
companies together could prevent roughly 10 million metric tons of plastic waste. And if
they fully engaged their sectors and supply chains, that number could triple.

Dealing with the trash

Globally, policies regulating waste disposal and recycling vary wildly—where they exist
at all.

“Unfortunately there are a lot of countries where waste management is really not
developed,” Bonini confirms, “and that’s going to require investment.” Thankfully, that
investment is starting to flow, she says, particularly to Southeast Asia, where waste
management has not kept pace with consumption.

The waste management piece of the puzzle is critical but tricky. In many places, if a
waste management company makes more money sending plastic to a landfill than to a
recycling center, Simon says, it’s going to a landfill. “And so all of that upstream
investment to make the materials as recyclable and as high quality as possible is for
naught.”

“There are some waste management companies that are starting to look at their role in
the broader recycling system,” says Simon. “But we need more companies to get on
board with investments and action.”
Article Trailer Competition: Article 4 4

Beyond bans

One thing governments can do is nudge sectors that might be dragging their feet. It may
not be as easy as banning straws, but passing legislation around waste disposal can
have enormous impact. Governments can also help by streamlining and standardizing
recycling rules.

In turn, consumers need to participate in the solution. Giving up plastic straws is a great
start, but there’s so much more plastic that we consume. “We are asking every actor in
the plastic life cycle to rethink how they’re using plastic and how they’re managing it
when they’re done with it,” says Simon. “I would make that same ask of a consumer.”
(See sidebar below.)

Plastic-free nature

WWF has set the audacious goal of No Plastic in Nature by 2030. “Today science tells
us that a 50% reduction is possible,” says Simon. “As a conservation organization
seeing the urgency and direct impacts on our ecosystems, we know that’s just not
enough. I think we have to be ambitious, because the problem is so big.”

The world is poised to act on plastics, and WWF—with its global presence, holistic
approach, and proven track record on issues much more contentious than this one—
has a critical part to play. Working alongside other groups, like Ocean Conservancy and
the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, WWF is helping herd the cats, aligning everyone
toward concrete action.

Meeting this goal will mean bringing together stakeholders with different priorities, goals,
and points of view, says Simon. It’s a monumental task. But, she says, there’s one huge
advantage. “We all agree wholeheartedly: Plastic doesn’t belong in nature, and we need
to stop it from ending up there.”

Source:
Hancock, L. (2019). Plastic in the ocean. World Wildlife Magazine.
https://www.worldwildlife.org/magazine/issues/fall-2019/articles/plastic-in-the-ocean
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ARTICLE 5

Virgin Space Flight Takes Off

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES (New Mexico): British billionaire Richard Branson

soared more than 80.5km above the New Mexico desert aboard his Virgin Galactic
rocket plane and safely returned in the vehicle’s first fully crewed test flight to space, a
symbolic milestone for a venture he started 17 years ago.

Branson, one of six Virgin Galactic Holding Inc employees strapped in for the ride,
touted the mission as a precursor to a new era of space tourism, with the company he
founded in 2004 poised to begin commercial operations next year.

“We’re here to make space more accessible to all,” an exuberant Branson, 70, said.
“Welcome to the dawn of a new space age.”

The success of the flight also gave the flamboyant entrepreneur bragging rights in a
highly publicized rivalry with fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos, the Amazon online retail mogul
who had hoped to fly into space first aboard his own space company’s rocket.

“Congratulations on the flight,” Bezos said on Instagram. “Can’t wait to join the club!”
The gleaming white spaceplane was carried aloft attached to the underside of the
dualfuselage jet VMS Eve (named for Branson’s late mother) from Spaceport America, a
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state-owned facility near the aptly name town of Truth or Consequences. Virgin Galactic
leases a large section of the facility.

Reaching its high-altitude launch point at about 46,000 feet (14,020m), the VSS Unity
passenger rocket plane was released from the mothership and fell away as the crew
ignited its rocket, sending it streaking straight upward at supersonic speed to the
blackness of space some 86km high.

At the apex of the climb with the rocket shut down, the crew then experienced a few
minutes of microgravity before the spaceplane shifted into re-entry mode, and began a
gliding descent to a runway back at the spaceport. The entire flight lasted about an
hour.

“I was once a child with a dream looking up to the stars. Now I’m an adult in a spaceship
looking down to our beautiful Earth,” Branson said in a video from space.

The patchy video transmission was the only blemish on an otherwise drama-free flight.

“Congratulations to all our wonderful team at Virgin Galactic for 17 years of hard, hard
work to get us this far,” Branson said during an intermittent live feed as Unity descended.

Source:
Virgin space flight takes off. (2021, July 13). The Star.
https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-star-malaysia/20210713/281951725820657