A team of five NUS students are campaigning to raise the university’s average recycling rate and narrow the huge disparity with the national average.
NUS’ recycling rate in 2008 was 12 percent, a figure that falls far short of the national average of 56 percent. In comparison, Havard University, the world’s top institution of higher learning, boasts a recycling rate of 55 percent, which is almost equivalent to the national average of the United States.
Called OMG, the team had initially worked on a project that was part of an academic module, NM4207: Managing Communications Campaigns. Upon completion of the project, the group continued to work together and began an actual campaign to combat environmental degradation. It is led by Goh Tong Jee, a master’s student in the Communications and New Media programme.
Goh said, “OMG stands for One More Green campaign, and is targeted at youths in NUS, trying to push them to recycle more.”
According to her, the team chose the name OMG because “using acronyms is one of the ways to connect better with these youths.”
“We hope to change the mindset of the youths here,” Goh said. “Many of them know about recycling but find it troublesome. We just need to motivate and encourage them to recycle on their own and be more action-oriented.” Marcus Tay, Sustainability Executive from the Office of Environmental Sustainability said that students know about recycling, but need to do it correctly.
The OMG team’s upcoming initiatives includes an event called BRB that will encourage students to actively recycle.
BRB is short for “Bring Rubbish Back”, which signifies the action phase of the team’s plans. It is a play on the acronym for “Be Right Back”, which is commonly used by local youths.
To be held on April 1, the event will encourage students to throw rubbish in recycle bins that will be placed at Yusof Ishak House in exchange for a goodie bag.
Goh said, “We hope to collect 500kg of rubbish from the event, to make a statement that students can make a difference if everyone works together.”
Lim Chen Guo, 26, publications director for the campaign is confident the campaign has made an impact.
“People around have been very receptive to what we have done. Since we started our campaign I notice that the recycling bins have been fuller than before,” she said.
The OMG team is part of the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots programme, which focuses on youth-led projects that benefit animals, environment and ultimately the community.
In January, it also participated in the Asian Humanitarian Forum which promoted humanitarian and environmental causes.
This article was edited on March 25, 2010, to correct an error made in reporting a comment by Marcus Tay.
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