Explore | Upcycling Trash
Soaps & Candles Chia Wen Shin, 26, used to see her mother storing cooking oil in containers after frying food. The oil would be used a couple more times but eventually, it had to be thrown away. But there was nowhere to throw it away safely. “Paper, aluminium, plastics … we can find recycle bins everywhere. But there is none for cooking oil,” she said. It prompted her to scour the internet for solutions. She found that as oils are the basic ingredient for soaps and candles, cooking oil can also be used to make them, and she began to experiment. That was for a university project three years ago but after graduating, she turned it into a social enterprise called Green Yards.
goingplacesmagazine.com | 56 | February 2018
Since April 2016, she has collected 4,000 kilogrammes of cooking oil from Muslim-friendly restaurants, and turned her house into a soapmaking lab. Chia said before being made into soaps or candles, the oil is first sieved through a micron filter that traps everything, even something as fine as a strand of hair. Most of the soaps are sold as corporate gifts. Chia has since been joined by her childhood friend, Kenzie Chan, also 26, with whom she had roamed their neighbourhood as children. Now, they drive around together to pick up used cooking oil, and personally make every bar of soap and every candle. They also collect used household oil dropped off at environmental organisation EkoKnights’ premises in Kuala Lumpur, to be sent to a bio-diesel manufacturer. Chia said their main aim has always been to recycle used cooking oil safely. Looking at their delicate soaps, it’s hard to imagine that they had once been used to fry fish!
Seatbelt Bags & Banner Planters Felt carpets and advertising banners, seatbelts and preloved kimonos. Those were their previous lives, but these items now live on as high-fashion bags made by Biji-biji Initiative. Biji-biji is a social enterprise that champions sustainable living, and that includes reusing waste creatively.
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and not easy to stitch together. And since they only take discards, they get a random selection. It took a while to figure out how to stitch the belts together, but the team eventually found a way, turning them into sleek bags that are now their signature product. But not all materials are hard to work with. The team recently received 500 kilogrammes of kimonos from a manufacturer in Japan, rejected for being outdated or with defects. It was like receiving half a tonne of treasure. The intricately designed fabric was perfect as highlights for the seatbelt bags, while plainer pieces became the lining. The team also came up with a new range of super-stylish clothing artfully incorporating the kimono, a traditional Japanese garment. “Sustainability is the core element of our business,” said Norashahera. “We have a unit which scrutinises our designs closely while they are still on paper. It must have at least 60 percent sustainable material.” Thanks to the kimono, some of the bags have reached 90 percent upcycled material content.
Norashahera Haleem, 31, who heads the fashion arm of Biji-biji, said it all began when one of the four co-founders was asked to make 1,000 innovative and environmentally sustainable bags for an event. They came up with the idea of turning event banners into tote bags that could be unfurled to become vertical planters. It was an immediate hit, earning them funding to launch Biji-biji in 2013.
A Challenge & An Inspiration
Seatbelts were their next project, having discovered that rejected seatbelts were thrown away in huge rolls. But that proved to be challenging as seatbelts are long and narrow,
Upcycling can seem daunting but upcyclers say it is all about being willing to experiment. Working with trash is a challenge but is their inspiration and mission as well, and they hope to inspire more people to do the same. ■
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Having had many requests for classes, Biji-biji opened ME.REKA Makerspace at the Publika shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur in November. From sewing to woodworking, everyone can now learn how to upcycle stylishly.
7 5. Chia (right) and Chan of Green Yards 6. Soaps and candles made from recycled cooking oil 7. The Biji-biji team and their designs 8. Chia turned her house into a soap-making lab 9. Biji-biji's signature bags are made from rejected seatbelts and other sustainable materials 10. Some materials can be hard to work with but all it takes is imagination 11. ME.REKA Makerspace organises classes for sewing, woodworking and more
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