Save That Pen came about during a cleaning session in a NUS student clubroom, when three friends realised that the pens being tossed away could still be used, or reused with refills. Without an avenue to recycle these pens, the students were led to reflect upon our consumption culture – we take objects like pens for granted; when we’re done with one, we throw it away, knowing there are a thousand more waiting to be bought at the nearest store. What can we realistically do about such a situation?
Vision
Zero waste living.
Objectives about Save That Pen @ NUS
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Create an avenue to donate used pens for students in need. |
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Encourage the reuse of pens by use of pen refills. |
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Translate the message of sustainability into the daily lives of both donors and recipients of the donated pens. |
What do we do?
We collect unwanted pens from around our campus. Donated pens are refilled and passed on to underprivileged students. We collaborate with the Global Village Foundation (GVF), a non-profit organisation based in Vietnam. GVF focuses on sustainable community development projects emphasising, amongst other things, education.
Save That Pen has collected about 10,000 pens from the NUS community since we started our project in early 2010. Over 900 ‘pen packages’ have been donated to students via GVF’s education projects. Each ‘pen package’ consists of one refilled pen and an extra pen refill which recipients are encouraged to use after the pen runs out of ink.
As for pens that cannot be refilled, we are currently growing our collection, and hope to work with a young artist in the near future on an installation art-piece that would help send a message about waste in our society.
How can you help?
Donate your unwanted pens! That is, if you do not intend to refill them for your own use. We definitely encourage refilling and reuse in the first instance. We currently have 7 bins at NUS Kent Ridge Campus, Bukit Timah Campus, and NUHS:
(1) Central Library (2) Science Library (3) Law Library (4) NUHS Tower Block We have moved the bin at Engineering LT6 to NUHS Tower Block. Hopeful that this will improve the pen collection rate, do support us!
(5) PGP Residences Foyer
(6) UTown Cinnamon College
(7) Ventus (University Campus Infrastructure) Windscoop [Conveniently located along the sheltered walkway from Ventus to Kent Ridge Terminal]
Share your ideas, or better still, join us! We are always looking for new members to join the team. Whether you want to make a simple contribution such as helping to sort the pens, have an interesting idea related to our project, or if you are interested in helping us push out the project to the rest of Singapore, just send us a message at www.facebook.com/Save.That.Pen or drop us an email at savethatpen@gmail.com
Save That Pen is an initiative managed by Ms GOH Huishan, Ms KIA Jie Hui, Mr NG Shi Han and Ms NG Yi Teng. This project is supported by OES through publicity and coordination with other departments on placement of bins. Check here for more news.
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