As part of the commitment to create a sustainable home in Singapore, all 15 PAP Town Councils will upcycle decommissioned parts from MRT trains to enhance residents’ living environments while reducing waste to landfill.
The Town Councils are making this move under the PAP’s Action for Green Towns (AGT) initiative, which aims to make every PAP-managed town zero waste, energy efficient and greener.
Dr Wan Rizal, Chairman of the AGT taskforce, said, “We have made headway with the recycling of nearly 300 tons of paper with our residents within six months through the 77 paper recycling machines we introduced. This is equivalent to saving over 5,000 trees. This collaboration with LTA is another worthwhile initiative in our efforts towards zero waste towns as we reimagine these train parts into useful amenities in our estates.”
From 2022 to 2025, the 15 Town Councils will upcycle at least 1500 seats, 600 intercom covers, 300 LED light covers and 1400 handrails from trains. As the seats and covers are made of fibre reinforced polymer and are not easily recyclable, this upcycling initiative will rescue about 14,400 kg of material from going to landfill. This initiative was started in response to LTA’s public call for community partners to upcycle old train parts. Town Councils then piloted the upcycling projects and gathered residents’ feedback before deciding on the full upcycling plan. Compared to buying similar amenities new, upcycling will allow Town Councils to save over $275,000 in costs and deliver better value for residents.
The residents in the PAP towns also provided diverse suggestions to how these items in our transport heritage can have a second lease of life. The ideas for upcycling were gathered from residents through a month-long public consultation that included mini-exhibitions, dialogues and online surveying.
Ms Hany Soh, Vice Chair of the AGT taskforce and the Sustainability Champion leading this upcycling initiative, said, “Our residents have given us wonderful ideas – from seats in community areas to rest and connect, to plant holders in community green spaces, to handrails for accessibility and safety for less mobile residents. I hope residents enjoy seeing their ideas become reality and keep working with us towards better homes.”
Residents got their first look at the transformation at the launch event in Marsiling – Yew Tee town on 17 July. SMS Zaqy Mohamad, Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Coordinating Chairman of PAP Town Councils) and Mr Alex Yam (Chairman of Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Council) graced the event.
In support of the AGT, the Young PAP will also conduct 3 other sustainability-related events from 16 to 17 July. Activities include collection of newspapers and textiles for recycling and cleaning up the Green Corridor.
