Winning ways from trash to cash

Ong Dai Lin, Today Online 11 Jul 09;

FOR some 260,000 children in 154 primary schools all over Singapore, recycling is not only about saving the environment but also about raising money to help needy students.

In July last year, CapitaLand teamed up with the schools on a year-long project to donate $2 to each school's welfare fund for every kilogramme of recyclable waste collected.

The cash amount that each school can receive is capped at $10,000.

Until December last year, the students collected a total of 321,000 kgs of recyclable waste.

The top three schools which collected the most recyclable waste will receive an additional cash prize of $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000 respectively.

Sembawang Primary School is one participating school.

Every morning, members of its Green Club will be stationed at the school's recycling weighing corner to weigh the newspapers brought in by students for recycling.

Principal of Sembawang Primary, Mr Albert Alcantara, told Today the school has collected 6,030 kgs of recyclable waste from last July to December and has received $10,000 from CapitaLand.

He said: "Funds to help underprivileged students with basic education expenses is always a definite help ... The money is used to help students with transport cost, purchase of school uniform, PE attire and shoes, and meals over and above MOE's (Ministry for Education) breakfast scheme."

CapitaLand's Green for Hope project ended last month and the final amount of recyclable waste collected by the schools is still being tallied.

For driving the Green for Hope project and other green initiatives projects by CapitaLand, chairman of CapitaLand's Green Committee and senior vice president of CapitaLand's Design and Development Department, Mr Wong Hooe Wai, was awarded the 2009 EcoFriend Award by the National Environment Agency yesterday. This was in the private sector category.

The 51-year-old's "green" roots dates back to the mid-1980s when he was an architect, he went to York University in the United Kingdom to learn about the conservation of historic buildings. To him, the awareness on the need to conserve the environment, was another important takeaway.

Other green initiatives that he is working on in CapitaLand include placing customised recycling bins in CapitaLand's malls, offices and serviced residences.

On the Green for Hope project, Mr Wong said: "Response to the year-long project was very encouraging and the schools were very forthcoming and eager in their participation."