Recycle is a Need and a Deed

Thought we were gone for good eh? Well, we're popping in again to give you guys an update on the latest in our journey of recycling!

After crunching a lot of numbers, we found out that we actually have a considerable amount of funds left over from what we'd raised from sponsors to get the campaign going, and also proceeds from our Tupperware sales. And so it was decided that we would pass on the spirit of recycling by donating the surplus funds to charity - namely, Pertubuhan Amal Seri Sinar Kuala Lumpur dan Selangor (P.A.S.S.).

P.A.S.S. a non-profit organization formed in 2003 by a group of public spirited Malaysians, and they aim to play a proactive role to spread out its existing recycling network in Klang Valley not only at an environmental friendly standpoint but also for charity. For more information about P.A.S.S.'s contributions to society and how you can help contribute, please visit www.recyclecharity.org.

On 26 March, a few representatives went to the P.A.S.S. factory in Hulu Langat to present the cheque for our donation to the president and founder, Dato' Eadon Ching, and also to learn more about P.A.S.S. You know what's coming next, don't you? :D



Yup, that's the entrance to the P.A.S.S. factory! Looks more like a island resort, doesn't it?



We had an interview with Dato' Ching when we arrived, but more on that later. First: a tour of the premises!



Recyclables collected are segregated according to type for easy transportation. Check out one of us campaigners being dwarfed by the mountain of trash on the right.



As you can see, this is the room designated for electronic recyclables. If you've got any old desktop computers or TVs lying around at home, you know what to do :)



Dato’ Ching guides us through the process of recycling in his factory. Amazingly, the entire factory was free of the stench that usually knocks you out cold when your friendly neighbourhood garbage truck rolls by.



Here we have piles of clothes collected being sorted out. Yes, they take old clothes too!



Not only did Dato' Ching (he's the gentleman in the middle) receive a cheque for the amount of RM 5,844 donated to P.A.S.S., he got an official campaign booklet and his very own campaign T-shirt as well!



All together now: Aww...... This is Lucky, the recycled dog. No, not recycled that way... it was taken in by P.A.S.S. after it's owner didn't want it :(



Dato' Ching shows his gratitude by presenting us with this scroll of appreciation.

And finally, as promised, our aforementioned interview with Dato' Ching.

Campaigners (CA): How did you come about in getting involved with this?
Dato' Eadon Ching (DC): Started off in 1998. In the early 90’s I got involved in charity. So in 94’ I ventured into basic recycling industry. I was very aggressive and active. Expanded my networking & set up the industry. “I do what I’ve done”. I was born with the mission to clean the earth. All this is not pre-planned.

CA: How is the market of recycling?
DC: People are more aware now. We (P.A.S.S.) interpret this market to be a social enterprise where we are self reliant and support ourselves financially. Some organizations are doing recycling on ad hoc basis. People are busy at home so collection is done weekly. In these 5 years, we have done a lot of networking. Most important in this market is to make it easier for people to do recycling. Everybody can do charity. Making people more caring, greener, and cleaner, touches their hearts to recycle more. Earning money from recycling is not an issue for Malaysians but accountability of recycling for charity.

Go Green, Recycle for Charity. (P.A.S.S.’s new tagline)

Things you don’t want is not trash; have the habit to give it away to charity. P.A.S.S. is doing personal collections weekly at various places during weekends to relate with the public (to show gratitude, support and relay messages to the public). I am now trying to promote ZERO waste. If there are big items, can call P.A.S.S. for pick up, and it is free! Gradually, people are starting to accept recycling in their lives. Helping the Government to save money by ZERO waste. In 5 years, [we can] help the government save RM7 million.

CA: How do you support this business?
DC: Sponsored by myself in the beginning until it was stable.
The money is used to finance manpower, transportations, [and donated to] charity (RM 10,0000 - RM 20,000 a month) by selling recyclable items (paper, glass, aluminium, etc).

There are plans to plant trees in Batu 14 Puchong School. The purpose is to instil a good seed into the students of going GREEN as this is to educate them regarding the earth and also what they can do to preserve if not save the earth.

P.A.S.S. is does not limit their obligations to just stick to one sort of charity but rather spreading out and sourcing out which needs are in urgency and immediately needs to be met. Asides from the usual donation to charity homes, P.A.S.S. is committed to look into those organisation that has single parents and would like to support them, looking also at schools such as the one mentioned in Puchong, I feel that they do not have trees around, and by contributing money to them to plant trees, is a very good idea.

It is very peaceful to bring people back to nature. Having some green around like what I do in my workplace is very calm and soothing feeling. It will bring the person into a mood of relaxation in the midst of working rather than not having any trees and it is all hot and stuffy.
When doing charity, it must be something that really touches my heart first. It has to move my heart to be able to give rather than doing it mechanically of the gestures of just giving. It won’t make any good if the giving is an act and not generated from the heart.

Normally, the monetary forms of donation do not reach the right people in most charities; that’s why I will go to the needy and give it to them personally rather than going through a third party. It is more fulfilling to be able to see that the money reaches the right person in need immediately rather than wondering whether in the end it would reach them.

CA: Are your family members helping you out?
DC: My wife is the operations manager for P.A.S.S. My daughter is 16 and still schooling. I am not sure whether she would want to venture into what I am doing now. Let’s see in the future.

CA: What are the challenges you face?
DC: Biggest challenge is human capital. Recycling is a tough job. People who recycle (he has done his research) 30% have the heart to practice recycling but 70% only do it out of convenience. PASS collection is 5 times more at the end of the year. There are 40-50 staff working for PASS only and most of them are senior citizens. It’s not easy to get honest people to run this. At times, my workers have to work over-time and those drivers of the lorries to do collection have to leave by 5 a.m. It is a tough job and at times, the will be multiple collection from the same area due to the overwhelming collection in that particular bin.

CA: How far do you see this succeeding? What is your dream?
DC: It’s a long way to go. I’m just a small “fly” looking at the population in Klang Valley. My dream is not only to recycle but to GREEN the earth. I’ve set up 2 more companies: GREEN EARTH MISSION and GREEN EARTH SOLUTION.

When you plan or green the place you feel that you are back to nature. Besides, people do not feel like throwing rubbish when there are trees in that area and this is a strategy I use. For example, the junction at the traffic light where the market is placed, I set up a recycling bin there and plant trees there to reduce people from throwing rubbish. Even in front of the gate here, it used to be a dumping side for household waste, but I took the step to plant trees and flowers and the result is, people stopped throwing their rubbish there.
[The concept of] “Harmonious with Nature” is something to be considered and to be in line with. With that, I also hope to inspire other NGOs to go green starting from any contacts and the network that I have.

CA: Did the current economy crisis impact P.A.S.S.?
DC: Yes, people are more prudent where they spend wisely, so they have fewer things to throw. Even the price of sending items away for recycling and reprocessing has dropped. In some instances, for certain recyclable items, the price has dropped by as much as 300%, where if an item used to be sold at RM1, it is now RM0.20.

CA: What do you think about Earth Hour 2009?
DC: It’s a good idea. The 988 radio station interviewed me and the segment will air at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning. This is a good encouragement to see people start caring for the earth and yes, I will also participate by switching off my lights on the designated time – 8.30-9.30pm.

Apart from that, recycling is also the most efficient way to green the earth even though switching off the lights would help. If one person can plant a tree a week, it would make a difference in a large scale but starting off by planting once a month is also a good start. With that in my mind and heart, I am moving into more of this kind of works by promoting the planting of trees.

We'd like to give P.A.S.S. a big thank you for supporting us in this endeavour of ours, and also to Dato' Ching for sharing his knowledge about recycling and so much more with us. In this day and age, it is truly heartening to know that there are people who very much care about Mother Earth, and those in need. Kudos to Dato' Ching and P.A.S.S., and all the best in your future activities!

Aaaand here we are to give you the 411 on the final day of our campaign! We made sure our campaign was packed with activities of all kinds up till the final day so that we could really say that we went out with a bang :)

Where else but at "Recycle is a Need and a Deed" can celebrities, bento and hamsters fit into the same sentence? Indeed, Day 2 of our campaign had all that and much more going on. We did say we had an interesting campaign :P


First up: the celebrities. On the second day of our three-day campaign, the Clothing and Textiles group drew crowds with their "Trashion Police on Go" game, hosted by local artiste Jym Chong Jing Yi and famed MY FM DJ Gan Mei Yan.


Here's Jym, appropriately dressed up as - what else - a cop, complete with handcuffs and all! Not only did he come dressed to impress, he kept the crowd entertained whilst waiting for his partner-in-crime to arrive. We know you love him as much as we do.


A few lucky TARCians are persuaded by Jym to be the Trashion Police's makeover subjects later on.


One thing's for sure, Gan Mei Yan knows how to make an entrance :) After keeping TARCians on their toes with anticipation, she finally arrived in style at the Canteen 2 foyer, and of course... the crowd went wild.


Wasting no time, the two Trashion Police got down to their mission of giving the selected TARCians makeovers using old clothes....


... and not to forget, accessories provided by the Clothing and Textiles group. Don't take our word for it, the Trashion Police themselves are quoted as saying accessories are an essential part of one's outfit!


Jym and Gan were in charge of giving a pair of students a full makeover each, and at the end of the makeovers, the crowd of TARCians watching would get to vote for the makeover they liked most!


What, you didn't think we'd call it a makeover without having the participants go through hair and makeup too, did you?


Here are all the participants post-makeover, and the happy winners with hampers in hand! Pretty snazzy, no?


Fans of Jym were in for a real treat that day, because not only did he host "Trashion Police on Go", he was back after a quick wardrobe change to perform a few songs and hold an autograph session! In case you missed it, here are some of the songs he performed, brought to you exclusively by us awesome campaigners on this blog :)

"Happy Birthday" by Jym Chong


"不可以不是你 (Bu Ke Yi Bu Shi Ni)" by Jym Chong

(Psst... if you find the quality of the videos not to your liking, click the song titles to see the videos in YouTube and hit 'Watch in high quality' :D)


Celebrities were not the only thing keeping TARCians occupied at "Recycle is a Need and a Deed" that day, as 17 December also happened to be the unprecedented "Bento Day", an effort by the Plastic group to raise awareness about the harmful effects of polystyrene, and to encourage TARCians to use “bento” – i.e. reusable plastic containers instead of harmful polystyrene lunchboxes when having food to go. Or, as we normally call it, tapao.


The mascots of "Bento Day" dressed up in full Japanese garb and went picketing around campus. Remember: polystyrene is evil. Use bento.


Other than that, the Plastic group also organised a game - the "Lunch Hunt" - along with their sponsor Tupperware. Using the cool collapsible Tupperware containers we introduced to you some time ago, participants would race against each other to see who could eat food packed from Canteen 2 the fastest.


Eating chap fan (mixed rice) has never been so exciting and suspense-filled before. Phew.


And here we have the winners of the "Lunch Hunt" with our ever-present mascots! Everyone's a winner as we hope everyone who participated walked away with knowledge about how reusable plastic (like Tupperware) helps save the environment.


And last but not least, the Electronics and Batteries group had an interesting demonstration on how you can provide homeless hamsters with a very green home if you happen to have a couple of old computer monitors lying around. We're talking, of course, about their PC-to-hamster cage demonstration.


Hands-on is always the best way to learn, don't you think?


Voila! Who needs fancy tunnels and colourful plastic cages when you can impress both your hamster AND your friends with your skillz at turning trash to treasure?


And that's it for the highlights of Day 2. But before we end this post to go recycle something, we'd like to give a shoutout to...


... our tireless campaign mascots! Yes, we have quite a few of them.


Sure, they've been known to get a little loopy and crazy under the stress and the hot weather on occasion...


... but most of the time they have been a lot of help, meeting and greeting TARCians at various locations all over campus...


... and always taking the opportunity to stage photo ops with "fans" of theirs. Many thanks to the mascots for drawing visitors throughout the duration of our campaign!


Coming up: what went down on the final day!

As promised, here's the long-awaited tour of all the booths. Because we used up all our blood, tears, and sweat into making our respective booths extraordinary and impressive during the event, it is only fitting that we brag about the end result of our artistic powers and hard work here.

We start off with the Aluminium group's exhibit, the RARE Factor. In case you were wondering, RARE is derived from the group's tagline of 'Recycle Aluminium, Rescue Environment'. Totally fitting, no? And now for the pictures:


Behold the entrance to the RARE Factor house. Our Vice Principal, Mr Chan Kum Wing boldly steps into the future of our world plagued by global warming.


As they entered, visitors were greeted with a clutter of newspapers, plastic bags, tin can and whatnot, scattered all over the place. Icky. But that’s exactly how the Aluminium Group wanted people to feel - this is the 'Rubbish' section of the exhibit, showing visitors how our world would look like if we continue our littering ways.


The whole place was plastered with mahjong paper that was peppered with colourful pictures of our dying earth.


Moving on... this adorable piece of shit belonged to the Biodegradable group and it was found sitting at the entrance of the booth. If you’re wondering, S.H.i.T. stands for Stay Healthy in TARC. Not, you know... the other type.


Because they support everything that is biodegradable, the Biodegradable group were seen fervently promoting the wonders of garbage enzymes.


Bottles containing the enzymes were on display as well. Many were curious of the smell; after all, it is rotting waste, but surprisingly, the smell was actually quite bearable. Visitors were told to open the bottle with the blue cap at their own risk though.


And now we come to the Clothing & Textiles group's 'Trashion' booth. It had adorable tiny garments hanging from the canopy. Pouches, mobile phone accessories and bags made from used clothes were sold at very affordable prices at the 'Trazaar' section of the booth.


What’s more, those interested in buying the handmade goodies could customize their items to their liking by selecting their preferred colour, alphabets, and patterns!


This poor guy was roped off in his own Trashion Scene Investigation corner, waiting for the Trashion police to investigate his, er... death. We're guessing he was a victim of lack of recycling used clothing, the most likely motive being apathy.


Next up, the Electronics & Batteries 'Easy & Breezy' booth. Check out this cool Recycle Area where visitors dropped off their old, unwanted electronics!


Here's MY FM DJ Gan Mei Yan, fascinated by the Nokia Integrated Kiosk, one of the attractions in the booth. Visitors could drop off their old mobile phones and in return, Nokia would plant a tree all the way in Indonesia under the 'Recycle a Phone, Adopt a Tree' programme!


This is one of the props found in the E&B booth. Yes, a CPU casing turned barbeque pit. We know we rock.


And finally, the Plastic group's booth. This is the entrance to the Hell section of the Plastic booth. Plastic waste was strewn all over this section in hopes of annoying the visitors, really. How else could we contrast it with the Heaven section then?


Speaking of which, here's the Heaven section. There was a table, chairs, curtains, and even a baby cot made up entirely of plastic bottles! What the Plastic group was trying to convey: plastic can be a blessing or a curse, depending on which type you use - the reusable kind, or the disposable kind which we throw into the trash, and ends up killing some poor sea turtle somewhere along the line.


At one corner of the Plastic booth, Tupperware products could be found selling like hot cakes to students and also the staff. Few could resist the discounted prices offered by our sponsor Tupperware.


And that's it for le Tour de Recycle campaign. Stick around for updates on Day 2!

Hi there! In case you were wondering what happened to us... we're still here. Our apologies for keeping you waiting so long to hear about what happened during our campaign. Christmas shopping took up a bit more of our time than we'd expected :P

The big day for us campaigners finally dawned on 16 December 2008, and all of us were scurrying around the Canteen 2 foyer making final preparations for the launching and for our own respective booths as well. Cue the pictures:


Breezy... er, busy bees at work...


More busy bees...


Busy, busy... You get the idea.


The excitement was building up in the air as everybody was anxiously awaiting the launching ceremony. Finally, the launching ceremony started at 10 a.m., starting with speeches from the Very Important People:


The Head of the School of Social Science and Humanities, Mr Lee Hwee Chuin...


Mr Philip Ling, the representative from our awesome main sponsor, DiGi...


... and last but certainly not least, the Vice Principal of TAR College, Mr Chan Kum Wing.


After that, the campaign was officially launched as the VIPs each took one of the five recyclable elements and threw it into a magical bin...


... and watched as a seriously polluted "earth" sunk down into oblivion (see it? it's the black one on the left!) and a healthy, green "earth" rose up to replace it, signifying the change and transformation recycling would bring to our lives. Nifty, no?


What launching ceremony would be complete without a celebrity performance? Never one to disappoint, we shook things up with a performance by none other than Malaysia's own hip hop/canto-pop band, Manhand!


Von and gang rocking out as only they could with "Cool Planet".


Rap for the environment yo.


Manhand had a very busy day indeed, performing not only once, during the launching ceremony...


... but twice, once after the launching itself. Being the real sports they are, they didn't stop there...


... having an autograph session for their fans...


... sneaked a few photos with their fans in between...


... hosted a game session with TARCians...


... and finally, scored an interview with one of the hosts of ASTRO Channel 304, Jiayu Entertainment's infotainment programme 'Mary Go Round'. For all their tireless enthusiasm that day, we campaigners are truly grateful. Want more of Manhand? Catch up with them cool cats at their official website, www.manhand.net.


Speaking of 'Mary Go Round', two of the programme's hosts were there too, picking up right where Manhand left off.


They hosted another game session with TARCians, this time requiring participants to let loose their creativity and use accessories to customise their very own reusable tote bag. We hear lots of bling was involved.


The best part was when the hosts went around asking students for their opinion on recycling, and recording Chinese New Year wishes from them as well! A little birdie told us that the segments would probably be broadcast during the first or second week of January, so those of you with ASTRO satellite dishes at home, you know what to do :) In the meantime, find out more about 'Mary Go Round' and its four Marys at http://www.jiayu.tv/program/marygoround.htm!


We still have lots more to share with you, so stay tuned! Up next: a tour of the booths together with the VIPs!