March 23, 2026
SINGAPORE – When Ignatius Tang was in Secondary 1, he joined his school’s sustainability efforts because he wanted to be with his friends. In the process, he developed a genuine passion for the cause.
From Secondary 2, he championed several programmes in St Andrew’s Secondary School, including collecting discarded red or green packets after Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Puasa to be recycled.
“We realised there were a lot of discarded red and green packets after the festive periods. So, we turned the collection into a school-wide competition. Now, students look forward to it and ask when the collection will be,” says Ignatius, 16, who is in Secondary 4.
Since the initiative started in 2023, the number of red and green packets collected has doubled to about 400 a level in 2025.
He also launched a campaign to save electricity and improve classroom cleanliness with a group of friends when he was in Secondary 2. It was known as Project SEAL, which stands for Save Energy, Anti-Litter.
With students moving between classrooms because of full subject-based banding, he noticed that there was litter, untidy tables and chairs, as well as lights and fans left switched on.
He did a survey with the cleaners, and found that the messy tables and chairs made cleaning more challenging.
Together with his friends, he created a poster and made copies for every classroom to remind students to neatly arrange the tables and chairs at the end of the day, and to switch off the lights and fans. He also made regular announcements during morning assembly to remind students about it, hoping they would develop this habit.
“The students have adapted to it in the last two years, so it’s now a habit. When new students come in, the seniors will remind them to clean up,” he says.
Ignatius says he is proud of the campaign as he has seen the effect it has had.
“I saw the difference in the state of the classrooms and the impact it had on the aunties and uncles who clean our classrooms; their workload was lightened,” he says.
Seeing the results of his efforts gives him hope.
“Not many people are interested in sustainability. Sometimes, people make negative comments. For example, if an area is going to be deforested, they say it’s inevitable, so why try to save it? But I think it’s important to have a little bit of hope to make a difference. A small difference is still a difference,” he says.
Rice-planting teaches importance of reducing food waste
Yuying Secondary School has a food sustainability programme for all Secondary 1 students, focusing on the staple item of rice. The school has a rice plot, vertical farm and hydroponics systems, where students observe plant growth first-hand.
One of the students who tried rice planting is Secondary 4 student Mon Myat Thu, 16.
She has been involved in the annual 5½-month process, from preparing the soil and transplanting the rice seedlings to monitoring their growth and managing pests, to ensuring the plants receive sufficient water and sunlight, all the way to harvesting.
“There were challenges, such as insects affecting the plants,” says Mon Myat, who has done three rounds of planting since Secondary 1.
She was excited and proud to see the rice plants mature after weeks of care. “It made me realise how much effort and resources go into producing a staple food that many of us take for granted,” she says.
