Published 15 November 2022 ● Last Updated on 16 November 2022
Detailed posters depicting the impact of various projects from Secondsguru’s Zero Waste Bootcamps are on display in a ‘Traveling Exhibition‘ across public spaces in Singapore to spur youth and members of the community to come together and take collective action. The exhibition is on at the Sustainable Singapore Gallery till 10 Jan 2022. It will move to NUS Central Library till the end of March 2022 before heading over to the next public space for display.
Follow us on FB and Instagram to track the journey of the exhibition.
The Zero Waste Bootcamp by Secondsguru is a bi-annual programme to instill environmental stewardship amongst the youth while equipping them with skills and knowledge to achieve eco as well as social goals. Participants are guided and mentored to work on ground-up projects that address real-world challenges for project partners and create measurable impact. With 7 runs since 2019, over 150 alumni have contributed positively towards creating a future-ready, resilient and, sustainable Singapore. They have cumulatively organised over 45 community events, the collective impact of the Bootcamp projects since inception stands at an impressive 150k + digital and in-person touch points in the community.
The 7th Zero Waste Bootcamp
The latest – 7th edition – of the Zero Waste Bootcamp ran for 14 weeks from May to September 2022 and had 24 passionate young men and women taking on the challenge of crafting and executing 5 eco-social projects in the community. Projects ranged from conserving biodiversity to reducing marine litter to encouraging fashion sustainability to reduce food waste. Project partners who benefited from volunteer projects were non-profit organisations – ACRES, Fashion Revolution Singapore, Nparks HortPark, PAssion Wave, and PM Haze.
As a fitting finale to the cohort, two teams shared the top spot and accolades for the best-executed project based on their presentation to a panel of judges from National Youth Council, National Environment Agency, and National Library Board.
With constant guidance and mentoring from the Secondsguru founders, Lara Rath and Anuja Boytra via regular check-ins and formal reviews as well as the designated mentors from the project partners offering invaluable insights, the teams worked hard to realise their project objectives.
To join the next round, complete this registration of interest form and we will be in touch with details when the next Bootcamp is ready for launch. Still have questions, mail us at bootcamp@secondsguru.com.
Team Fash-O
Project partner – Fashion Revolution Singapore (FashRev)
One of the winning teams of ZWB 7, Team Fash-O was tasked with promoting sustainable fashion in Singapore by focusing on repair as a route for conscious consumption. Displaying a structured approach, the team began with a well-received public survey to zero in on the most-wanted repair skills. They went on to learn these mending skills – such as repairing zippers and handling hemlines themselves.
The team created awareness and advocated sustainable fashion choices by conducting two community workshops to share the repair and mending skills they learned over 3 months. They established contacts with various sustainable fashion partners such as NLB, Cloop, and Swapaholic to garner greater outreach. They even produced an accessible digital guidebook and YouTube tutorials on basic clothes repair hacks for FashRev.
The guidebook was published and is available on FashRev’s microsite as a long-term resource for all.
Team Coastal Eddies
Project partner: PAssion Wave @Sembawang
The second winning team of ZWB 7 created awareness campaigns on littering and waterways pollution for PAssion Wave @ Sembawang. This team organised three public cleanups at Sembawang Beach – arranging tools, disseminating information, galvanising sign-ups, and more – This resulted in over 90 volunteers collecting about 350 kg of trash.
The team also redesigned the “picky corner” for enthusiasts to borrow cleanup tools from – branding it as “Bobby and Otties’ supplies”, they revamped the facility by designing headers and instruction posters to make it more appealing and noticeable. Look out for their Instagram account coastaleddiess, where they educate the public about the pitfalls of single-use plastics and inspire others to do their bit to protect marine life. Team Coastal Eddies will also continue their efforts through regular clean-ups and education.
Team Monkey Business
Project partner: ACRES: Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Singapore)
This team set its sights on understanding and promoting peaceful human-macaque coexistence in Singapore, under the theme – City in Nature.
Starting off by visiting monkey hotspots, team Monkey Business went on to create interactive games to engage interest among the public for dialogue and create learning via interaction. In fact, the team rolled out these campaigns during live roadshows at Nee Soon East CC and PAssion Wave at Marina Bay. Through this outreach, they connected with more than 200 people, thereby raising awareness on what to do when encountering macaques, as well as educating them on best practices for trash and food management to prevent macaques from entering homes. The games/ materials have been handed over to ACRES for running future outreach programs.
Team Food Salvagers
Project partner: HortPark (National Parks Board)
This team set out to build further on ZWB 6 Team 5Foodprint’s efforts to develop a centralised composting hub inside HortPark for F&B businesses in the vicinity. They created reusable resources – ranging from an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) on composting, to video guides on how to compost, to creating an online tracker for the amount composted that can be updated by community members.
Team Food Salvagers leveraged the Secondsguru and HortPark networks to canvas at food and beverage outlets and offices near HortPark to join its composting initiative by donating food waste. They have successfully on-boarded Google staff as volunteers and talks are ongoing with SP Jain, Canopy, and Vineyard.
They are now looking for volunteers who are willing to sustain their efforts and help cultivate a culture of composting in Singapore! Sign up at bit.ly/HortParkvolunteer. They will also continue their work on the composting program and manage the volunteer program.
Team Re:Peat
Project partner: PM Haze: People’s Movement to Stop Haze
The team began by researching on and educating itself on palm oil usage and industry practices. Armed with facts, they developed a toolkit to educate students on the importance of peatland restoration and the impact of Sustainable Palm Oil, under the guidance of PM Haze.
Using this toolkit, the team carried out an interactive workshop with Peicai Secondary School to empower students with knowledge on what they can do in their daily lives to protect peatlands. Complete with quizzes, interactive elements, and informational nuggets, the educational session was well received.
Team Re:Peat has handed over the toolkit to PM Haze and they will be using it in future outreach to members of the community thus making the impact of the project last way beyond the 14 weeks.
Are YOU a 18-35 yrs old Singapore resident keen to be a changemaker and lead the nation towards a future-ready world?
Join the next round of the Zero Waste Bootcamp. Just complete this registration of interest form and we will be in touch with details when the next Bootcamp is ready for launch. Still have questions, mail us at bootcamp@secondsguru.com.
Related Link
Zero Waste Bootcamp | Youth working towards a future ready and sustainable Singapore
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