Youths Help Teck Whye Seniors Go Green
Youths Help Teck Whye Seniors Go Green
The youths’ ‘loot’ of recyclables — after a hard day of going door-to-door collecting e-waste & old clothes from seniors living in Teck Whye.
Passionate about promoting a green lifestyle among Singaporeans, four youths rallied their like-minded peers to perform door-to-door electronic waste (e-waste) and textiles collection in CCK estate before Chinese New Year (CNY).
Lim Jin Pin, 20, Yesenia Lim, 20, Vienna Anong, 18, and Letitia Chen, 18, were behind the collection drive for 8 apartment blocks in Teck Whye where many seniors live.
The three full-time students and one National Serviceman recruited another 20 youths to join them in collecting e-waste and old clothes from the seniors for recycling.
Yesenia had learnt about the residents needing more help in recycling while preparing a food distribution programme for vulnerable households in the Teck Whye area last June. So when Jin Pin broached the idea of an e-waste collection drive, Yesenia suggested to do so in Teck Whye and to twin it with collection of unwanted old clothes too.
Doing Something Meaningful with Their Time
Jin Pin, who has always been into green initiatives, said: “The spark that got the ball rolling was the realisation that while many people know about recycling plastic bottles, cans, glass and paper, seniors especially may not be aware that e-waste may also be recycled.
“This means that much of the valuable recyclable metals found in electronics are being thrown and wasted. So we decided to come up with this special recycling drive targeted to help our seniors.”
Took Two Months to Get the Project Going
Do you recall seeing this advertisement about the collection drive?
The quartet said they took about two months to plan and organise the collection drive, bearing in mind wet weather plans and safe distancing measures.
In early January this year, they went door-to-door giving out pamphlets informing residents at the 8 blocks in Teck Whye that they would be returning two weeks later to collect e-waste and textiles for recycling. The CCK Town Council also helped publicise the collection on the lift panels of the 8 blocks and arranged for special collection bins.
Jin Pin said since majority of the residents were not home when they visited and they left the pamphlets under their doors, he wasn’t sure what the response would be.
Residents’ Response Overwhelming
The youths went door-to-door collecting e-waste and old textiles.
So when the 24 youths split into two teams for the door-to-door collection from the 8 blocks around Teck Whye’s Blocks 8 and 120 on 23 January, they were gratified at how much they managed to collect.
More than 138kg of e-waste was amassed and close to over 30 bags of old clothes. The most common e-waste was old monitors and TV screens.
Jin Pin said: “It was great that we managed to also take the chance to educate the mostly senior citizens in the estate about e-waste. And many asked us if we were planning to run this drive again.”
With the residents’ positive response to the recycling drive, the green champions decided they would return again next year around the same time to mount another collection.
Active Youths Bring Positive Change
The Teck Whye green drive was organised by YOUthnited (an informal youth volunteer group) with support from CCK Town Council. The town council arranged for recycling company ALBA to provide two e-waste recycling bins on the day of the drive.
Youthnited Founder, Yesenia, said she used to volunteer extensively with another informal youth volunteer group in the East. As a Westie, she thought it would be good to start something similar in the West, and YOUthnited was born in 2021.
She hopes to galvanise more youths to take the initiative to plan their own volunteer projects and make sustainable, positive change to society.