According to the National Environment Agency, only 3 per cent of clothing and textiles were recycled in 2024. “If you look at plastics, cardboard, wood – all these other forms of waste – we’re doing so well with them. But why is it that textiles are such an issue?”
Part of the problem, she explained, is both awareness and infrastructure. “You’ve seen the yellow textile bins across the island, right? A lot of people still don’t know they exist. So they end up throwing their old clothes into the normal bin, or worse, the blue recycling bin.”
SUSTAINABILITY WITH A SIDE OF STORYTELLING
To do her part, Tan incorporates donated and salvaged fabrics into her work. “People donate clothing they don’t want anymore, and I also go around to places I know will have these offcuts – seamstresses, aunties who do alterations at the market.
