“They should not be afraid to give it a shot. No idea is too small nor challenging.”
With the outbreak of the coronavirus, the importance of hygiene practices have increased tenfold. From frequent hand washing to sanitising every surface, these practices have become our new normal. However, not everyone has access to the proper hygiene tools to ensure the high levels of cleanliness required at all times. Hence, our #SGStrong grantee, Green Nudge, decided to find a hygienic yet sustainable solution for two of the worst-hit groups: low-income households and migrant workers.
“During the initial period of COVID-19, one of the common items that were regularly used and bought were soap and hand sanitisers. Putting ourselves in the shoes of a migrant worker, it would have been scary to know that the common items such as soap bars would have been bought by others. Without these items, it would have been challenging to clean oneself especially in a dormitory. Turning end of life products into something meaningful has been something I had been doing on a regular basis. In this case, in order to consider providing items like these to the migrant community, one way was to explore collecting and turning minimally used soap bars from hotels into recycled soap bars.”
Partnering with eight hotels, Green Nudge recycled leftover soap that was redistributed to these beneficiaries. Green Nudge would reach out to the hotels to send them their used soap bars, which would have otherwise been thrown away. Green Nudge then repurposes them into new soap bars and sends them for testing to ensure that they are completely safe for use. This innovative approach not only helped the families and migrant workers gain access to cleaning supplies, it also helped save the environment as a zero-waste initiative.
“For those who are keen to do more and are hesitating because they are unsure how they could start, we feel that they should not be afraid to give it a shot. No idea is too small nor challenging. As long as the team is keen to give it a shot, you can be sure that there are many such as the Singapore Strong fund who would be happy to support!”
We hope that Green Nudge’s project will also inspire you to extend your help to the people who are struggling in your community. Together, we are stronger than COVID-19.