Slide 1

My name is Si Yuan and these

are my fellow group members,
Sock Yii, Harsh, Benjamin and
Chee Wei.

Slide 2

Lets start with some statistics

obtained from the National
Environment
Agency
in
Singapore. In 2009, the total
textile waste output is at about
109 thousand tonnes. This
gradually increased over the
years, to about 130 thousand
tonnes in 2011. However, as we
can see here, the amount of
textile
waste
recycled
throughout these recent years
is relatively low at about 12%.

Slide 3

Take a look at this picture of old

clothes for example. As fashion
trend changes, people buy
more and more new clothes to
keep up with the fashion trend.
But then what happens to the
old clothes?

Slide 4

Slide 5

Slide 6

Hence, we decided to conduct a

survey among 100 households
in this district to gain more
information.

Slide 7

Among our survey respondents,

65% of households told us that
they purchase new clothes
monthly.

Slide 8

However,
70%
of
the
households dispose of their old
clothes.

Slide 9

Why do they do that? So we

asked them their reasons for
disposing
their
unwanted
textiles and here are the
answers we got.

Slide 10

From our survey findings, the

first reason households gave
was the lack of incentive to
recycle textiles. By selling their
unwanted textiles to the ragand-bone man, they receive
monetary
benefits.
Hence,
households would keep their
unwanted textiles for the event
that
the
rag-and-bone-man
comes along, or they would just
dispose of them.

Slide 11

The second reason households

gave was the problem of
inconvenience. Take person A
who lives in Jurong for example.
He takes twenty whole minutes
by private transport just to
travel to the nearest Salvation
Army point in Bukit Timah to
donate his unwanted textiles.
Furthermore, Salvation Army is
the only place in Singapore
where you can donate textiles,
and as you can see here, there
are very few Salvation Army
points around Singapore. Given
that Salvation Army not only
collects textiles but also other
types of items such as furniture,
there is currently no concerted
effort in Singapore to recycle
textiles. Also, from our skit,
there are even people who are
unaware of the existence of the
Salvation Army.

Slide 12

Last but not least, 7 out of 10

people
we
surveyed
are
unaware
of
the
negative
impacts of textile wastage, and
hence continue to dispose of
their unwanted textiles. What
about you? Are you one of
these 7 people? Do you know
that disposing textiles actually
have detrimental effects on our
environment and economy?
Allow me to pass my time now
to Sock Yii who will be sharing
with you about these impacts.

Slide 13

Today, I am going to talk about

the detrimental impacts of
textile wastage. Im sure many
of your in this room had thrown
away many textile products, be
it clothing, or any other things
made of textiles. However, as
you throw them away, have you
ever wondered, what are the
implications of your actions? As
mentioned earlier by Siyuan,
more and more textiles are
being disposed of due to the
various
causes
addressed
previously.

Slide 14

Take a look at this slide, do any

of your know what this island
is? It is actually an aerial view
of Singapores one and only
offshore
landfill,
Pulau
Semakau. As the amount of
textile wastage increases, it
had also caused the amount of
textile waste transported to this
landfill to increase. Eventually,
this phenomenon will occur.

Slide 15

You may be wondering now,

whats so bad about this
phenomenon? Its not my house
anyway. Yes, it may not be your
house, it may not have any
effect
on
your
living
environment
currently,
but
YOUR constant disposal of
textile will put a strain on YOUR
countrys financial resources

Slide 16

as
offshore
landfills
are
expensive. For all you may
know, it costs $610 million to
build Pulau Semekau! With the
high cost involved for its
construction, it is no wonder
that high maintenance fees
would also be needed in time to
come, especially with the rising
vast amount of textile waste
drowning this landfill.

Slide 17

Having said this, we can see

that the cost of textile waste
cannot be underestimated as
the large amount of money
used in dealing with this waste
can be channelled to other
areas of development of our
country.

Slide 18

In the long run, resources used

as raw materials for the
manufacturing of textiles will
also be drained.

Slide 19

These resources include, water,

cotton, petroleum, and even
human labour, especially when
more and more manpower are
needed to produced more
textiles to replace the old ones
that
are
discarded
away.
However, if we continue to
dispose textiles as and when
we like, all these resources will
be gone! So whats left?
NOTHING.
Yes,
absolutely
NOTHING! These precious, finite
resources are valuable for our
countrys
sustainable
development and should be
conserved whenever possible.

Slide 20

Take the case of apparel

manufacturing for example, just
an average shirt alone, its
manufacturing process wastes
700 gallons of water. And thats
actually equivalent to 140 of
these water jugs you see here!

Slide 21

Imagine, if everyone of your in

this room were to recycle one Tshirt each, JUST ONE, thousands
of gallons of water would have
been conserved! To sum it all
up, textile wastage leads to the
exhaustion of resources. Do you
want your country to face a
shortage of resources in the
near future? I bet you dont.

Slide 22

So, we have to act fast, for

there is an obvious and urgent
need for appropriate strategies
to tackle these causes of
wastage

Slide 23

as waste is not waste, but

potential resources to be used
again.
With
appropriate
strategies, it will help to
effectively
minimize
textile
waste
as
well
as
the
detrimental
economic
and
environmental impacts it has on
our society.
Now, Ill pass the time to Harsh,
to elaborate on the first part of
our strategies. Thank You.

Slide 24

Slide 25

We intend to start off by setting

up a company called Stark
Textiles Industries, to initiate
our various measures to spread
awareness as well as reduce
and recycle textile waste.

Slide 26

What do you see on the screen

here?
It
is
actually
the
homepage of the website we
created. Our first strategy,
called e-Textiles, is essentially
creating a company website
with various features which aid
us in our aim of trimming textile
wastage.

Slide 27

Slide 28

Slide 29

Slide 30

The second feature is called the

Textile Man Program.

Slide 31

Slide 32

Slide 33

Slide 34

The final feature of the website

is called Surf n Shop. Similarly,
we want to make trendy clothes
from the old textiles collected
from the Textile Man program
and make them available for
online purchase.

Slide 35

Slide 36

Hello everyone, as addressed

by the previous speaker, yes
Im Benjamin and Ill be talking
to you on the other strategy
that our group has proposed on
reducing textile wastage. Were
going to organize this campaign
called
Love
Textiles
Campaign.

Slide 37

We will be dividing this

campaign into 2 parts, namely
a roadshow and a workshop.
Now, let us focus on the
roadshow first. I believe no one
in this room has ever attended
a textile roadshow because no
such
roadshow
has
been
organized before! Hence, our
company will be organizing the
very first textile roadshow in
Singapore, and I believe this
will be interesting to the public.

Slide 38

What youre seeing on the

screen now is an outline of our
roadshow, which will be held at
the Suntec Convention Centre.
The booths set up will mainly
address

Slide 39

the various causes of textile

wastage, and its present and
future implications, and the
current efforts put in by our
organization to reduce textile
wastage in Singapore today.

Slide 40

Employees from our company

will be there to mend the
booths,
to
answer
any
questions that our roadshow
participants have.

Slide 41

The gallery will then be

displaying several pictures of
the detrimental effects of
textile
wastage
to
the
environment,

Slide 42

Slide 43

Slide 44

Slide 45

and also pictures of textile

collection from households in
action. What youve just seen
are some pictures that we are
planning to put up during the
roadshow.

Slide 46

Slide 47

Let us move on to the

workshop. Many of us do not
realize how much damage we
are causing to the environment
whenever we dispose textiles
as and when they like. What
about you? Do you know what
happens when you dispose your
unwanted clothes? Let me show
you what happens.

Slide 48

As mentioned earlier in the

causes of wastage, the lack of
awareness could be one of the
reasons why we are unfamiliar
with the extent of the damage
we
are
doing
to
the
environment. But what if we
could change this unappealing
sight,

Slide 49

to something that looks like

this?

Slide 50

Or maybe even this?

Slide 51

Recycled textiles can not only

be used to create useful
products, but it can also save
the environment at the same
time. Hence, we are planning to
conduct a workshop throughout
the entire roadshow using
volunteers trained by our
company, which teaches the
participants several methods in
creating useful products from
old and unwanted textiles.

Slide 52

These participants can join and

leave whenever they want,
without having a need to
register for it.

Slide 53

Materials will also be provided

for them, which makes it very
convenient for them.

Slide 54

Im sure many of you here like

free stuff right? Hence, we have
decided to make this workshop
free of charge for everyone,
enticing people to participate in
this workshop.

Slide 55

Also, live demonstrations on

how to go about converting old
and unwanted textiles into
useful
products
will
be
conducted

Slide 56

and flyers will be distributed to

attract more participants.

Slide 57

Curious about what useful

products can be made from old
and unwanted textiles? Heres a
grocery bag, made entirely
from an old T-shirt. It can
withstand even more weight
than a normal plastic bag. This
is beneficial to products that
are heavy and require more
than one plastic bag to hold
them.
Hence,
with
this
workshop in place, we are able
to tackle both the evils of
textile and plastic wastage.

Slide 58

As the roadshow is an annual

event, and such opportunities
dont come easy, why not grab
hold of it and have fun while
learning how to save the
environment
from
textile
wastage at the same time?
Thank you and I will now pass
my time over to our next
speaker, Chee Wei, who will be
elaborating on the effectiveness
of our strategies.

Slide 59

Thank you Benjamin.

Continuing on from my previous
speakers, I will now address
some of the problems that we
may face when implementing
our strategies

Slide 60

as well as some of the

possible solutions that we may
adapt in order to minimize
these problems.

Slide 61

After reviewing our textile man

programme, we realised that
we needed a large amount of
manpower in order to ensure
that our collections are made
on time. However, a possible
problem arises when there is a
shortage of labour, because
people are unwilling to join a
labour intensive industry like
ours.

Slide 62

This could result in delayed

collections, which will further
inconvenience the donors and
make them even more unwilling
to donate their textiles to us.
This
would
reduce
the
effectiveness of our strategy.

Slide 63

To solve this, we turn to local

university students who are
currently doing volunteering
work or social work.

Slide 64

One
way
to
use
these
volunteers is to attach one
textile man with three to four
volunteer. They can then go to
a specific area in Singapore,
where they will split up to
different households to make
collections. This will ensure that
our collections are made on
time and people do not get
further inconvenienced by the
collections.

Slide 65

A common problem that many

online stores are facing is the
lack of trust.

Slide 66

Customers cannot actually feel

or try on the clothing, and as
such, will have doubts on the
quality of clothing provided.
This is especially true for us
because we are a relatively new
brand, and the concept of using
recycled
textiles
to
make
clothes is relatively new in
Singapore.

Slide 67

This is important for us because

the main way we advertise our
website is through the word of
mouth, and so if people give
negative reviews about our
website, this will reduce the
effectiveness of our web store.

Slide 68

To overcome this, we are

planning to set up booths in the
roadshow,
to
display
and
showcase our clothing. Visitors
to the roadshow can feel the
clothing and even try them on.
This will ensure them that our
clothing is of high quality and
comparable to those made from
non-recycled textiles.

Slide 69

Speaking of our roadshow, it is

held in Suntec Convention
Centre, which is located in the
city. This makes it a convenient
place for people as it is easily
accessible from all parts of
Singapore. Since it is so
convenient, it would further
entice people to join in on the
fun.
However, one major drawback
of our roadshow is that it is only
held once per year and at only
one specific location. This will
put people who are unable to
attend the roadshow due to

personal or work commitments

at a disadvantage.

Slide 70

We propose to include more,

smaller-scaled
roadshow
throughout the year at different
parts of Singapore. This would
ensure that our efforts to raise
awareness of textile wastage is
sustained and can reach out to
even more people in the
neighbourhoods.

Slide 71

This
can
be
done
by
cooperating
with
various
community
centres
and
grassroot clubs.

Slide 72

Mother Teresa once said, I only

feel angry when I see waste,
when I see people throwing
away things that we could use.

Slide 73

Out of the 130 thousand tonnes

of
textiles
disposed
in
Singapore, almost 100% of
them
can
be
recycled.
However,
majority
of
the
textiles end up in Pulau
Semakau as waste.

Slide 74

Make a change. Stop textile

wastage before it is too late.
And on behalf of my group, I
thank you for your attention.

Slide 75