Date: 27th & 28th October 2014
Time: 10.00am to 4.30pm
Venue: Concourse @ Southspine Lot 1 & 2
On the 27th and 28th October, Earthlink NTU held Greening NTU, a biannual campaign that promotes environmental conservation through small actions that everyone can perform. This semester s theme is Ditch Da Disposables, which encourages students to reduce the usage of disposable items, such as Styrofoam containers, disposable tableware and plastic bags. This campaign is also held in tandem with other tertiary institutes namely SUTD, SP and NUS to ensure that university students nationwide will be able to take part in this meaningful campaign.
For NTU, a booth was set up at the Concourse, South Spine, for Ditch Da Disposables. It displayed interesting facts about disposable containers in the form of colourful infographics. Students were also able to read about how plastic bags poison wildlife, disrupt habitats, release harmful chemicals into groundwater and threaten biodiveristy. These are the reasons that prompted the birth of this campaign which in turn is vital in educating the youths of today about the dangers of disposable items.
The most interesting item at the booth was a small mountain of Styrofoam containers. It showed the amount of Styrofoam containers a single person would go through if that person orders take-away food once every two weeks; 26 of them to be exact. This may not sound much, but seeing the pile of containers in person will definitely change your mind.
The campaign also featured a multitude of fun activities hosted at the booth. Participants could sign a pledge, take pictures of themselves with the infographics or comic strips, participate in a short quiz, or even draw their own colourful designs onto a reusable container! Participants could also post pictures of their containers online to enter the Draw Your Own Container (DYOC) contest. All participants were given a goodie bag which doubles as a reusable shopping bag, and a variety of useful items, such as a notebook made entirely out of recycled paper cartons. Winners of the DYOC contest and the lucky draw were able to walk away with more lucrative prizes such as the coveted Starbucks cards and tumblers.
When asked, participants and student ambassadors alike found the activities to be fun and educational. Most importantly, everyone felt that they learnt something new by participating in this event. We are glad that this campaign was a success, and would like to use this opportunity to thank all our sponsors for their generosity (especially Flipit.com/sg), which was vital in ensuring the success of this campaign.