SingaporeMotherhood | Family Fun
June 2024
Things at Home that You Can Recycle (which you probably didn’t know you could)
More, and more, the things we used to throw out as trash have become ‘treasures’ that we can recycle. However, Singapore still has a long way to go when it comes to recycling. In 2022, our domestic recycling rates were only at 12 per cent – the lowest in over a decade. We can do better! Apart from donating books, many household items get a second life through recycling, which reduces waste sent to landfills, conserves resources, and even saves energy. So don’t just throw things out; check whether you can recycle them instead, and in doing so, help make a better future world for our children, one recycled item at a time.
(See also: HOW TO BE AN ECO-CONSCIOUS PARENT IN SINGAPORE: TIFFANY WEE, NATUROPATH AND NUTRITIONIST)
Beauty Empties
It doesn’t matter what brand of beauty product you use. As long as the container is full-sized, clean and dry, L’OCCITANE Singapore will accept it for recycling under its Big Little Things recycling program. Do check on their website first for the full list of accepted beauty empties before making your way down. The best part? You will receive a reward, such as a travel-sized L’OCCITANE product, with every 10 stamps.
Available at ION Orchard, VivoCity, Paragon, Plaza Singapura, Northpoint City and Raffles City L’OCCITANE outlets. Check here for the full list of accepted full-size beauty empties.
Clothes (UNIQLO)
Under the RE.UNIQLO Reuse & Recycle Framework, secondhand UNIQLO clothes are recycled in several ways. Those that can be reused are delivered as emergency clothing aid to refugee camps and disaster areas together with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). As of end-August 2023, UNIQLO has donated up to 54.63 million items to 80 countries and regions. Unwearable UNIQLO clothes that are donated are converted into materials for new items. Donate your used UNIQLO clothing at any UNIQLO store during store operating hours. Do note that only UNIQLO items are accepted, except for innerwear.
Find out more here.
Contact Lens Blisters
Project 2×2 (“two by two”) by Two of a Kind collects used contact lens blisters from any brand for recycling. Sign up at the website, and they will send you #project2x2 recycling envelopes. Mail or drop-off (locations here) the filled recycling envelopes. The blisters then go to recycling partners who re-use them as raw material for new products.
Get more information and participate here.
(See also: 8 ECO-FRIENDLY RESORT GETAWAYS FOR YOUR NEXT FAMILY HOLIDAY)
Contact Lens Blisters and Foil
You can recycle not only the blisters, but also the aluminium foil, with the Eye For Earth Contact Lens Recycle Program by Capitol Optical™. Just pick up a contact lens recycling bag and kickstart your recycling journey. One bag can contain up to 60 blisters and 60 foil lids. Drop your bag at any Capitol Optical Boutique or a participating partners’ collection point. They are then delivered to local recyclers who melt the blisters down into plastics that can be up-cycled – such as the contact lens recycling bag they come in!
Get a recycling bag from a Capitol Optical store. Find out more here.
Disposable Chopsticks
Did you know that you can recycle the wooden chopsticks that come with your dabao meal? At ChopValue Singapore, these – even soiled ones – are repurposed into furniture and decor items to be sold on their website. Think coasters ($19 for a set of two), zero-gravity wine holders ($39), and charcuterie boards ($69), to shelves, side tables, tabletops, and even a height-adjustable desk that is made from 9,600 chopsticks.
Your business can be a recycling partner with ChopValue Singapore. Find out more here.
Pens
If you have pens lying around at home – and don’t we all? – why not give them a new lease of life? Donate them: used or unused, branded or unbranded, to Save That Pen, which will then refill them, and pass them on to underprivileged students in Singapore and the region. Pens that cannot be refilled or reused are stripped of their plastic and metal parts for recycling. What’s nice is that children and students can be part of this initiative as well, either by setting up a pen collection point in their school, or by volunteering for sorting sessions.
Collection points are at NUS, NTU, Nee Soon South Community Club (temporary location at Blk 844, #01-172, Yishun Street 81, S760844), and Tampines Regional Library, Level 4, outside MakeIT. Get more details here.
(See also: 17 NEW STAYCATION DEALS AND PERKS FOR FAMILIES THIS SCHOOL HOLIDAYS 2024)
Pigeon Baby Bottles
Pigeon started its Nursing Bottles Recycling Campaign to collect and recycle used nursing bottles in 2019. The aim? To ‘leave a rich earth for the future of babies born tomorrow’. As of 2023, a total of 65,496 bottles have been collected. These are then processed to reuse as raw material for other plastic products. There are a number of drop-off locations across Singapore, though some are exclusive to preschools. Public drop-off locations are at:
Children’s Cove (Sembawang)
604 Sembawang Road, Sembawang Shopping Centre, #03-08, Singapore 758459
(Drop off at School entrance)
Superland Pre-school (Singpost Centre)
10 Eunos Road 8, #01-208, Singapore 408600
(Drop off at School entrance)
Pigeon Singapore Office
80, Bendemeer Road, #06-01B, Singapore 339949
(Drop off at reception)
Twinklekidz (Bendemeer)
80, Bendemeer Road, #01-07, Singapore 339949
Get more details at Pigeon’s Go Green page here.
Plastic Containers and Bottles
Contribute your containers for laundry, detergent, bleach, shampoo and milk, as well as squeeze bottles, flexible tubing, Tupperware, syrup bottles, yoghurt tubs, cups and disposable cutlery (clear and coloured), and Temasek Polytechnic will turn them into useful facilities like this Eco-Park Bench at Tampines!
Deposit your plastic at Block 146, Tampines Ave 5, next to Vertical High-Tech Farm, and Tampines Round Market & Food Centre, and 137 Tampines Street 11, near the market entrance.
(See also: JUNE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS 2024 ACTIVITY + MAKAN GUIDE FOR KIDS & FAMILIES IN SINGAPORE)
The Body Shop Bottles
Drop off your old bottles, tubs, tubes, jars and pots into recycling bins at The Body Shop stores. Once the bins are full, Sembcorp® collects them, then sorts the empty packaging before they repurpose and recycle them into raw materials for new products.
See the list of stores here.
Tzu Chi Environmental Sustainability Day
This community activity takes place in over 30 neighbourhoods around Singapore, like voids decks and communal pavilions so you’ll definitely be able to find one near you. Bring your recyclables to the collection point, where they will be sorted by volunteers and then sold to recycling companies. Do check at their website to see which items they accept. For instance, they do not collect plastic items, Polystyrene foam, and PVC.
When 9am – 12pm, on the 3rd Sunday of every month. Upcoming ones this year are on 16 Jun, 21 Jul, 18 Aug, 15 Sep, 20 Oct, 17 Nov, and 15 Dec 2024
Where 32 Locations island-wide. See the list of locations here
Featured image: Frames For Your Heart on Unsplash
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