A day as Mumbai Rubbish picker
By Phoney Bustard on Saturday, April 05, 2008 at 9:43 PM
Very happy to see that we have collected a lot of materials over the past 2 days @ Defu Lane & Tay Paper Recycling Plant. At the recycling plant, there were trucks offloading cardboard & bulldozers shoving the pile of cardboard to a conveyor belt. Then among all the ruckus were 2 rubbish pickers - Ariff & myself, looking like 2 rubbish pickers from Mumbai. Ha ha. Good fun!Anyway, back to the materials. Thanks to Peiting & Sharleen, we got 8 tyres & some thin pieces of wood. Then, today, Ariff & I got cardboard (abt 50cm high pile), 11paper core (various sizes), 11 tins (big hole: good for use as pigeon hole). See attached image. Also, there is a spoilt wooden chair, some styrofoam & fabric.
The stuff is all (except for fabric) at Mun Yee's wonderful place.
Also, there is a pile of unwanted chairs & tables at a nearby bar. Can take if we really want them.
Next sat, construction starts!
Recycled Living Space: Full steam ahead!
By Phoney Bustard on Monday, March 24, 2008 at 5:11 PM
For those who not aware, Recycled Living Space is the part of EcOasis that showcases how "old/ used/ waste" materials can actually be turned into functional & FUNKY furniture & accessories!Our team consisting of Peiting, Hanisah, Didier, Mun Yee, Jie Wei, Sharleen and myself have been coming up with lots of interesting ideas for this space. For myself, I've always been in the engineering & sciences field, so its certainly enlightening when those in the team who are more design oriented share some of the things that can be done with old junk. However, even the volunteers who are not in the design field impress me with their creative ideas!
Currently we plan to have a dining table made from leftover wood & tires. We have various designs for chairs which would involve using cardboard, tin cans etc. We will be getting materials from various sources such as recycling companies & factories.
If you have lots of old stuff to throw away, or are interested to share your ideas, pls contact me at yihan666@gmail.com
Thanks!
- Yi Han
Coming Soon @ Science Centre
By Wilson Ang a.k.a ShamU on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 5:39 PM
Catch this banner being put up at the ECO House building site.
Proudly done by our volunteer designer, Hong Kiat.
EcOasis!!! Lets GO!! This weekend!
By Wilson Ang a.k.a ShamU at 1:25 AM
Hey guys!
Wonderful to have met up and see such enthusiam for the project. I believe I have a great bunch of pple to make this EcOasis a success!
We are starting on the Green Roof and carrying on with our RWHS (Rainwater Harvesting System) this weekend!
Would like to invite you to the sessions below. Pls revert your interest to me asap (1 or/and 2) as i need to gauge if we are having too many hands for these sessions.
First come first serve!! =)
1. Stud Plants Preparation
Date: 01 Mar 08 (this Sat)
Time: 9.30am - 12.30pm
Venue: 100 Dairy Farm Rd.
Brief: Our Landscape Architect will be getting the friendly garden aunty to teach us the transplanting, propogation techniques, etc. Singing to the greens will come in later sessions.
2. RWHS + Greywater Trial Systems
Date: 02 Mar 08 (this Sun)
Time: 10am onwards
Venue: 100 Dairy Farm Rd.
Brief: We're carrying on with the testing of rainwater harvesting & greywater system. Our lead water-men will go thru the basic ideas with new volunteers and start to get the hands dirty!
Thanks! Hope to hear from you soon!!
Feel Free to sms me @ 98236252 for any queries.
Ah Yao~
First Round of Rainwater Harvesting System (RWHS) Experiment
By Wilson Ang a.k.a ShamU on Sunday, February 17, 2008 at 10:05 PM
And now we get our hands dirty!Last week we did some shopping, now we took couple of those GIANT dispenser bottles for some experimentation.
In deep thoughts of how it should connect together.
Well...eventually the joints and fixtures weren't enough so we went out to get more.
Yeah! More shopping! :P
And finally, we produced the FIRST RWHS Prototype of EcOasis! :
Hm....not too shabby. :)
Well...at least we got the prototype up and running. We will leave it over the next few weeks to see how the trial works out. And we'll improve on it further when we come back.
Looking for some internal components
By Wilson Ang a.k.a ShamU on Friday, February 01, 2008 at 11:37 PM
It was a day of "Shopping" for the internal components of the ECO House.We started at about 1pm, the team went down to Geylang to the various hardware shops there to buy the required components after recommended by Uncle Kiong.
Yes...the above picture is none other than Ah YaO~ . The one who manages volunteers who wants to get their hands dirty on the internal component of the ECO House.
Here is LJ posing at the site that Jia jia, our main volunteer Architect, has offered to use to build our prototype. The Green Roof and walls will be done here as well. ;)
And so we transport the stuffs we bought there.
Around evening, we turned to IKEA to do some shopping. To get some materials.
Before that, we had ourselves a meal first. And the picture above, you will see the SUMPTUOUS FOOD from IKEA! Bon Apetite!
Then we "shopped" around.
Picture below: Checking out a sink. Ah..inlet and outlet. How can we pipe in the rain water source and where does the grey water goes.
As we went around, we were pretty excited and wished our kitchen could be like IKEA's. Or we can do something like that.
And then suddenly...EUREKA!
LOOK! We realized that the various display sets in the IKEA Show room matches out allocated dimension of the "kitchen". We were thought for awhile and it triggered us to perhaps approach IKEA to get a set for our kitchen.
We liked this kitchen set! Well...and many others!!!!Afterall, IKEA is a green brand and has a culture of not wasting materials.
This particular display caught our attention. :)
And now...we were looking around at some other furnitures (below picture) such as having a living room with materials made from reused materials.
But yeah...we were only dreaming. We don't have space for that. The rest of the house is intended to be used for conducting training and really used reused or recycled material to decorate it. It will be a creative area.
Now, the next thing we need to do is to find a chance to meet up IKEA and propose the idea to them and hopefully they will support our ECO House.
*Fingers Crossed*
Looking for Volunteers: EcOasis - Getting your hands dirty
By Wilson Ang a.k.a ShamU on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 8:08 AM
EcOasis
Finally, the dream becomes reality.
On 16 Jan 08, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Finance & Minister for Education, planted the seeds for EcOasis at the Singapore Science Centre. Together with our generous sponsors, the team saw the beginning of EcOasis.
This project was conceived in 2006 as a tangible showcase for environmental technologies. Located in the Eco Garden of the Singapore Science Centre, the EcOasis will be useful as an educational platform for casual visitors or teachers bringing their students for field trips.
In addition, the EcOasis will also be part of ECO Singapore's Enrich! Programme on environmental sustainability. This program aims to instill the fundamentals of sustainable living and motivate the participants to start taking actions in their daily lifestyle
We Want YOU!
From now till the completion of EcOasis in April 08, we need 10-15 volunteers to help with the trials and construction of the various systems within the EcOasis. Key Systems include:
- Rainwater-Harvesting
- Green roofs & walls
- Bio-diesel
- Grey-water recycling
- Recyclable Living Space
Volunteers will need to commit about 2-4 hours per week for these two months. No prior knowledge is required but passion for the cause is highly recommended!
To volunteer, pls email volunteer@eco-singapore.org or sms YaO @ 94233204.
PS: Please help forward this to as many people you think might be interested as possible.
ECO Singapore Speech (With ENRICH! Video Clip)
By Wilson Ang a.k.a ShamU on Thursday, January 17, 2008 at 8:43 AM
Minister Tharman ShanmugaratnamSponsors
Friends
I would first like to thank the Minister for taking time off his normally hectic schedule, now his doubly hectic schedule, to be with us this afternoon for the groundbreaking ceremony of the EcOasis.
The EcOasis a good example of what can be achieved in a partnership between government, non-governmental organisations and the private sector united in a common purpose.
To this end, I would like to thank the Singapore Science Centre for their support in providing the site for this unique and meaningful project.
I would also like to thank all our sponsors for all their support and encouragement.
This project was conceived in 2006 as a tangible showcase for environmental technologies. Located in the Eco Garden, the EcOasis will be useful as an educational platform for casual visitors and teachers bringing their students to the SSC for field trips.
In addition to its use as an ad hoc educational platform for casual visitors, the EcOasis will also be part of ECO Singapore’s Enrich! Environmental Foundation Programme, which will be launched next month. This half to one-day customised programme, intended for students from Primary Five to Secondary Four, will highlight fundamental issues on sustainable living. Comprising six modules, it will complement and reinforce what students are already learning in school subjects like geography, science and social studies, while weaving these subjects together within an environmental context.
I would now like to share with you a short video clip on what an Enrich! Programme offers to students.
(Video of Enrich! Programme being screened as below)
I am delighted to announce that ECO Singapore will offer this programme to schools without charge in 2008.
Thank you very much.
