Yishun Turned Their Used Posters Into Bags & Other Products to Reduce Waste

By
Pamela Lee
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Yishun is finally doing something right.

From cruelly hanging a mynah outside an HDB flat to a woman filmed shouting at a Starbucks employee, Yishun has rightfully earned its reputation as the ghetto part of Singapore.

But today, Yishun proves us wrong.

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What a day to be alive. 

Zero Waste Masterplan 

If you have wandered around some estates in Singapore, you would have seen the large municipal banners that the Government puts up during certain events.

But what happens to the banners after the events are over?

In most places, they get thrown away.

Not in Yishun though.

As part of a Zero Waste Masterplan in Nee Soon East, banners are upcycled into new products. This initiative also helps women who are unable to work, according to Member of Parliament for Nee Soon GRC Louis Ng.

Project Sew 

This might sound fresh and new but to the residents of Nee Soon East, it’s old news.

In fact, in 2015, an initiative called “Project Sew” was launched to repurpose some banners.

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This means that the upcycling of banners has been in place since the masterplan.

According to Mr Ng, he launched the Zero Waste Masterplan to make sure all banners are upcycled.

Killing Two Birds With One Stone 

The project does not only benefit the environment but it also helps those in need – mainly women who are unable to work, including single parents, the disabled and all-day caregivers, according to CNA.

For some women, it’s hard to get a full-time job because they have young kids. However, this “gives them a chance to make a livelihood at home to make things to sell,” said Mr Ng.

The initiative also provides them with materials and sewing lessons.

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Bags Are Sold And Used At Events

Nee Soon East hands the old banners to lower-income families for them to sew the banners into bags. It then buys the upcycled bags from the families and uses them at events.

Bags are also sold at the events. It ranges from $2 for a small pouch to about $40 for a big bag. Nee Soon East processes and distributes the proceeds from the sales towards helping lower-income families.

Mr Ng further added that about 50 families have benefitted so far with 10 families given sewing machines by Nee Soon East so they could work on the bags.

A Unique Bag 

Out of the many bags, this particular one stood out from the crowd.

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[ Check out the bag 😱 ]The bag looks familiar 😬 And that is because it used to a banner in Nee Soon East and we now…

Posted by Louis Ng Kok Kwang on Tuesday, 17 December 2019

In a Facebook post by the MP, he said that this bag looked “familiar” as it was previously used as a banner in Nee Soon East.

He laughed as he told CNA that the ladies “tried to be funny” and made a bag from his face even after he told them not to use his face as a bag.

More Than Bags 

Project Sew and Sembawang Family Service Centre (FSC) are the partners behind the making of the products.

Other than bags, the volunteer-driven Project Sew also creates rugs from old T-shirts, lanterns from red packets and bags form 3-in-1 coffee/tea bags.

Sembawang FSC by Nee Soon East has ordered about $1,500 worth of A4 zip folders and pencil cases which were made from the banners.

200 bags have also been produced so far for an upcoming Edusave Awards Ceremony.

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Hopefully, more neighbourhoods will look into this initiative so that there will be more upcycling initiatives and more women will be given the opportunities to earn a living!

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Pamela Lee
Email: [email protected]