Eco Action Day 2015, in its 9th year in Singapore, called on organisations, schools and individuals to make pledge that are positive to the environment on 5th June.
This campaign is organized by Japanese multinational Ricoh Asia Pacific and supported by various government and private sectors which includes the National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS), National Environment Agency (NEA), Building and Construction Authority (BCA), Energy Market Authority (EMA), Singapore Environment Council (SEC), Singapore Compact for CSR, Singapore Business Federation, Keppel Land, Keppel Reit, Mapletree Business City, Comfort DelGro, Rice Communications and Eco-Business, in commemorating the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Environment Day (WED).
An intensive public engagement through several platforms such as bus advertisements running along the central business districts, town and heartland areas, putting up posters at commercial buildings and offices, campaign sharing during the NEA and SEC workshops, online advertising, social media and carrying out roadshows at various office buildings: Bugis Junction Tower, Keppel Tower, Ocean Financial Centre and Marina Bay Link Mall, were scheduled and undertaken from mid March to June.
A total of 165 companies, 40 schools and 449 individuals pledged to take actions to reduce their resource consumption and environmental impact. This is accounted to a collective effort of 95,079 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions is saved in this one day initiative.
The event started off with the opening speech by Mr. Tetsuya Takano, Managing Director of Ricoh Asia Pacific, who shared on the campaign achievements for this year as well as highlighting the importance of our role, be it the corporate or the individual, to impact the environment positively and be responsible to driving sustainability for our future generation.
This plenary session is discussed among distinguished speakers including Ronnie Tay, CEO, National Environment Agency; Ynse de Boer, Managing Director, Strategy and Sustainability Services, Accenture; Ariel Muller, Director, Asia Pacific, Forum for the Future; Professor Victor Savage, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore; Vincent Lim, Managing Director, Ricoh Singapore about sustainable consumption and production in Singapore. The dialogue was attended by 100 people from business, government and civic society leaders.
Eco Action Day Awards Ceremony took the center stage after the fruitful and interactive discussion. The award winners, each in its unique area, walked away with their well-deserved recognitions.
The list of the Award Winners is as follows:
- Most Creative Eco Award – Crescent Girls’ School
- Most Fun Eco Award – Crescent Girls’ School
- Most Effort Eco Award – Orchid Park Secondary School
- Most Effort Eco Award (Merit) – West Spring Primary School
- Most Inspiring Eco Award – Loola Adventure Resort (Bintan)
- Most Inspiring Eco Award (Merit) – StarHub Ltd
- Best Eco Practices Award – Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Company Pte Ltd
- Best Eco Practices Award (Merit) –Samwoh Corporation Pte Ltd
Crescent Girls’ School is the double winners of day, walking away with both the Most Creative Eco Award and Most Fun Eco Award. The school demonstrated active involvement with the students by organising mascot competition at the Ang Mo Kio-Bishan Park, getting the students to make use of recyclable materials, base on their own creativity, make into various mascots. “Stars and Crescent: Building Hopes and Dream Together” is also the theme for the school this year, to engage all students of all level to decorate their classrooms using recyclable materials. This year, the school also organised 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) competition to get the students to make use of recyclable materials to design creative products.
The Most Effort Eco Award for this year recognised 2 schools for their efforts towards engaging and educating their students on the biodiversity, ecology and environmental conservation. The winner for this category is Orchid Park Secondary School. The school who has been awarded second year in a roll, has actively engaged the students by holding eco learning and design thinking workshop for the students. The Merit goes to West Spring Primary School. Apart from the environmental learning programme in place, the school also organised recycling competition and garden planting activities for the young students.
Two winners are recognized for the Most Inspiring Eco Award. The winner goes to Loola Adventure Resort. The resort which is located at Bintan has three commendable activities to highlight on. Its rainwater collection system to use for toilet flushing and washing purpose, the biological waste water processing system to improve the sanitation situation in rural village and the green air conditioning system powered by solar installed in its eco villas.
And, the Merit Winner for this category goes to StarHub Ltd who took the lead to drive the Recycling Nation’s Electronic Waste programme to help individual to responsibly dispose its waste. This programme is a collaboration with the recycler, Tes-Amm, and DHL and supported by National Environment Agency, Ministry of Environment & Water Resource and Singapore Environment Council for public education.
The Best Eco Practices Award marked the last award of the day and the Winner goes to Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Company Pte Ltd. The company has been actively involved in the environmental awareness promotion programme organised by the government bodies such as NEA and PUB. Close to 200 of their employees volunteer to carry out litter picking activities regularly and the company’s “Hot Spot to Bright Spot” Programme has also helped to collect more than 280kg of trash around its nearby community in a year. Their energy and water saving projects since 2003 has also contributed to more than 10milllion kWh and 1million m3 saved to date respectively.
Last but not least, the Merit Winner for this category is Samwoh Corporation Pte Ltd. Since 2008, the company has developed a green concrete that comprises 100% recycled concrete aggregate. Their Eco Green Park which is constructed using this green material was officially opened in March 2010. The Green Park has also received many awards and featured in numerous local and overseas publications. The eco tour experience of the park also allows the public to have a better understanding of their green practices.
In the afternoon, together with IBM and World Environment Center, Ricoh Asia Pacific organized another event to celebrate the World Environment Day. A roundtable, titled “Critical Skills for Implementing Sustainability in the Asia/ Pacific Region”, featured on 3 different sessions namely: What skills are needed to solve future sustainability challenges?, How is sustainability currently being taught in leading Asia/Pacific universities? and How can business, government and universities improve their collaboration to prepare future leaders?.
Together with approximately 80 participants, these sessions are discussed among various environmental and sustainability expertists, professors and representatives from MNCs.
**2016 marks the 10th year of Eco Action Day. Do look out for more excitement plans from the Eco Action Team for next year**
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