Realising that most pens can be reused with refills, the activists have transformed their efforts and donate used pens to students in need.
On 3 November 2012, ‘Save That Pen’ participated at the Clean and Green Singapore 2013 Launch Carnival at Gardens by the Bay, which was organised by the National Environment Agency (NEA). Recognising that ‘Save That Pen’ is a ground-up initiative, activists continue work towards educating the public to practice the 3Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle.
‘Save That Pen’ activist Kia Jie Hui recounted the group’s journey: “We have collected more than 15,000 pens since we started our project in early 2010. Over 2,000 ‘pen packages’ have been donated to students in Singapore and the region, via non-profit organisations that we work with. Our pens have reached underprivileged students in Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines and Bhutan.”
Jie Hui explained that Young NTUC, being the official Youth Activists Partner of the group, has proactively supported and helped the project grow in many ways. “Through Young NTUC, we have been able to engage many more volunteers to participate in our pen-sorting sessions.” She revealed that it was through collaboration with Young NTUC that led to the group’s participation at national platforms such as Recycling Week 2012 and Clean and Green Singapore 2013.
“Young NTUC’s seed funding scheme also allowed our project to grow beyond the National University of Singapore by covering the cost of starting ‘Save That Pen’ in other campuses around Singapore, helping us to spread our environmental messages,” added Jie Hui.
Moving forward, ‘Save That Pen’ aims to encourage every school in Singapore to embark on a similar journey and spread the message of reuse and waste reduction to students from an early age.
Furthermore, the environmentally-friendly group is working to realise a community arts project, using pen-waste as raw material for art pieces that would raise awareness about waste in our society.
