Upcycling! Recycling! We Celebrate Earth Day

Giving new life to waste products through upcycling, challenging students to recycle right and classrooms which open up to a garden— these are some of the environmental education programmes in Blangah Rise Learning Campus. On 22 April 2021, students commemorated Earth Day with a series of upcycling activities, where students transformed used toilet rolls and bottle caps into animal sculptures, pencil holders, bottle cap coasters and money banks.

Besides upcycling, environmental ambassadors in each class encouraged their peers to recycle right with recycling bins in every classroom. The school collaborated closely with South West CDC and SembWaste for their recycling outreach programme, and worked with the pre-schools around Telok Blangah such as MOE Kindergarten @ Blangah Rise and E-Bridge Pre-School Telok Blangah. On our campus, classrooms on the ground floor open up to a Blooming Garden. Each class owns a gardening plot, providing authentic opportunities throughout the year for students to flex their green fingers— growing and harvesting produce to share with the school community. Through these platforms, students grow, learn, and serve as future Eco Stewards.

Student Reflections
Our activity is to make a coaster. I learnt that we can reuse unwanted items and make them into new things. In the activity, we could use our imagination to create the shapes and use bottle caps of different colours to make the coaster. We could make it into a square or a flower, into whatever we wanted to. I would use my coaster when I have my next drink!

Khush, Primary 3

I have learnt that we can recycle bottle caps and we can make a coaster out of them. I like the activity because we can recycle bottle caps and not waste them. I will use it when I have a drink and I will place my drink on the coaster.

Kerine, Primary 3

I learnt that upcycling is using a recyclable material and changing it to something useful in life. I like the activity because it has taught me how to recycle and I will put my new piggy bank to use!

Athan, Primary 4