Rebate2Earth

“Plastic bags stay in a person’s possession on average for about 15 minutes before they’re thrown away.”

History of Rebate2Earth

Rebate2Earth was launched on 4th February 2008 by NUS Provost and Deputy President (Academic Affairs), Professor Tan Eng Chye, and Miss Eunice Olsen, Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP). The initiative seeks to control the issuance of plastic carriers and discourage the irresponsible one-time usage of these bags by students and staff. It is a university-wide, sustainable and permanent eco-friendly initiative, which aims to minimize the excessive and often unnecessary usage of plastic bags in NUS campus. Rebate2Earth serves as a reminder for us to give a rebate (10 cents) to the environment whenever we use a plastic bag.

Since then, Rebate2Earth has successfully reduced plastic bag consumption by more than 80% in the participating outlets, well above our initial target of 50% reduction in plastic bag consumption. This number is comparable to the reduction observed in European countries which introduced similar plastic taxes.

How it is started:

Starting from February 4th 2008, plastic carrier taken from NUS CO-OP was charged at 10 cents each. Proceeds will go to the Rebate2Earth Funds under NUSSU SAVE for future environmental projects.

Implementation Details:

1) With the implementation of Rebate2Earth in NUS, consumers have to pay an additional $0.10 whenever they require a plastic bag. This will be in effect across all NUS CO-OP stores and food and beverage stalls in canteens.

2) All the money will be collected in a coin box at check out. The proceeds will go to the Rebate2Earth Funds for future environmental projects. Any projects that use this fund will declare that it is funded by Rebate2Earth funds.

3) The funds will be collected from the stores on a monthly basis, so the actual number of plastic bags used can be monitored.

4) There will be more partners/stores involved in this project in the near future. It will be updated on our website, and a poster will be displayed at the storefront when they are involved.

Green Canteen:

Starting from 27 Jan 2010, Rebate2Earth is proud to launch the pilot phase of NUS Green Canteen, comprising the original Rebate2Earth Coin Collection movement and one more new project: Project Box

Green Canteen Banner seen in all NUS canteens and CO-OPs

Project Box:

With the launch of Project Box, the NUS population is encouraged to bring their own lunch boxes if they want to take-away their own food. When they first take-away their own food, they will be given a Project Box card and a sticker. Subsequently, each time when they continue to use their lunch boxes to take away their own food, they will be given stickers. When they had finished filling up the cards with 10 stickers, they will enjoy $2 off the next meal.

Participating Outlets:

All NUS canteens (including Froogle Food Court and CO2 canteen in Prince George Park Residences (PGPR)), food and beverage outlets, NUS CO-OP and Nanyang Supermarket in PGPR

Future Plans:

Banners2Bags

A collaboration with South West Community Development Council’s WEworkz programme and NUS CO-OP to recycle banners, Banners2Bags hopes to further reduce plastic bags usage in campus. The concept of making bags out of recycled materials was by Daniel Freitag (co-founder of the Swiss recycled bag manufacturer, Freitag). It has received a lot of attention in the world of eco-fashion. Banners you see in NUS will be very soon made into unique and durable vinyl carriers. Look out for these eye-catching bags in campus. Ditch your boring plastic carriers in replace for the more-environmentally friendly alternative!

Banners2Bags Products

Such bags were first sold to the NUS Population during SAVE’s Green Carnival in August 2009. However, sales were not very successful mainly due to the high costs and the limited choices offered back then. Hence, this project was shelved temporally. However recently, this project is revived and renamed: “Banners2Carriers”. A workshop will be conducted by Rebate2Earth members soon on how used Banners can be converted to such attractive bags easily.

Expansion Campaign

Following the success in NUS, Rebate2Earth would like to further impart the culture to the youth. Promotion ofRebate2Earth campaign to all other tertiary institutions, through various channels such as Youths For Clean and Sustainable Environment (CASE) and Tertiary Institutions Council for the Environment (TICE) will be anticipated.

“The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”

– Gaylord Nelson Former governor of Wisconsin, co-founder of Earth Day –

Sub-Committee Members: