Community Engagement and Environmental Education Thrive at NUS Hostels

InfiniUse Initiative at Prince George’s Park Residence Reduces Waste and Promotes Sustainability

Sustainability is a key aspect of the NUS experience, with a focus on promoting eco-friendly practices within hostel life. In addition to campus-wide initiatives such as energy and water conservation, recycling, and biodiversity enhancement, NUS students are encouraged to adopt environmentally conscious habits in their living spaces to support a greener future. Student groups in the hostels have implemented various initiatives, demonstrating how small, thoughtful actions can have a meaningful, long-lasting impact. These initiatives include finding new homes for pre-loved items for incoming residents and fostering friendships through shared care for plants.

Eusoff Hall, known for its strong sporting culture, also has a Green Committee, a group of dedicated students who organize activities to encourage Eusoffians to adopt more sustainable habits. Justin Soon, a Year 2 student from the School of Computing (SOC), and Vienna Fiorella Anong, a Year 2 student from the Faculty of Science, are leading the Committee for this academic year. One of the recurring projects led by the Green Committee in Eusoff Hall is a hall-wide recycling competition, designed to foster community engagement and promote environmental responsibility. The competition, which runs annually from the middle of Semester 1 to the middle of Semester 2, makes recycling accessible and rewarding within the students' living spaces.

Each block in Eusoff Hall is provided with a designated recycling box for residents to deposit recyclables such as paper, plastics, and metals. At the end of the competition, the Green Committee evaluates each block's efforts based on criteria such as proper sorting and cleanliness before sending the recyclables to the recycling point. Winning blocks are recognized for their commitment to sustainability, motivating continued eco-friendly habits throughout the hall. To strengthen community ownership of the green spaces in Eusoff Hall, the Committee also initiated the creation of a spice garden. Featuring a variety of plants, including bougainvillaea, chilli, papaya, and lemongrass, the garden aims to spark an interest in gardening among Eusoffians, encouraging them to care for the plants and their surroundings. Residents who cultivated edible plants, such as rosemary and basil, have even used them for cooking.

Vienna Fiorella Anong, the Head of the Green Committee and a sustainability champion in Eusoff Hall, shared that through initiatives like the spice garden and recycling competition, they are "sowing seeds for a greener future." She emphasized that small actions can lead to significant change, and by working as a community, they can nurture sustainability one step at a time. Despite being one of the oldest halls at NUS, Sheares Hall (SH) has maintained a strong commitment to environmental sustainability. The SH community is deeply passionate about the environment and has organized a wide variety of activities to encourage Shearites to actively contribute to both environmental conservation and the broader community. The hall also has a dedicated student committee, ConSheares, which leads these meaningful initiatives and fosters participation from all members of the hall.

As part of the Sheares Newly Discovered Companion (SNDC) programme, freshmen at Sheares Hall have the opportunity to select a senior from their block to guide them through their first year of hall life. Through this programme, students can participate in the Adopt a Plant initiative at the Sheares Garden. Each SNDC pair is given the chance to choose between cactuses or fittonias and is taught how to care for these plants. They are also involved in the entire gardening process, including casting and decorating cement pots, as well as planting saplings. At the end of the initiative, each student takes home a potted plant. This initiative not only helps strengthen community bonds but also provides Shearites with a deeper understanding of the important role plants play in the ecosystem and the contribution of gardens to urban sustainability.

Among the participants were Gabriel Ponce Simundo, a freshman at the School of Computing, and Bernadette Tan, a senior from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Gabriel shared that the experience helped him develop a love for nature and an appreciation for the tranquillity gardening offers.

In the spirit of giving back, ConSheares partnered with the Sheares Hall Voluntary Corps and Tasek Academy and Social Services to educate disadvantaged students from primary to early secondary school on environmental issues. The collaboration led to the EnviroKids initiative, where Shearites shared their insights on environmental concerns and the impact of everyday actions. The initiative aimed to raise students' environmental awareness through engaging, hands-on activities such as turning recycled materials into musical instruments and creating craft projects. The programme made learning about sustainability both fun and interactive. While the initiative had previously been organised in two sessions, the committee was exploring the possibility of making it a recurring engagement with the students.

At Prince George’s Park Residence (PGPR), a diverse community of students from over 68 different countries resides. Due to the high turnover of short-term residents, many usable items were often discarded as students moved out, contributing to unnecessary waste. This prompted a collaboration between PGPR and the UTown Residences’ Sustainability Committee, which utilised their InfiniUse initiative to reduce waste by gathering unwanted items, sorting them, and redistributing them, mainly to incoming international and exchange students. InfiniUse has since expanded into a campus-wide initiative, with the team also collecting unclaimed parcels to repurpose and prevent additional waste.

The initiative is currently being managed by two Year 4 undergraduates, Shayer Ahmed from the School of Computing (SOC) and Regina Tan from the College of Design and Engineering, both serving as project leaders for InfiniUse. They shared that their goal was to ensure the long-term sustainability of InfiniUse, which has already benefited over 300 exchange students and helped redistribute more than 20 boxes of second-hand items. This initiative enables the NUS community to choose more sustainable living options. By giving pre-loved or unused items a second life, the InfiniUse team aims to shift students' consumption habits, foster a culture of reuse at NUS, and simplify the move-in process for new residents.

Editor's Note:

Sustainability remains at the forefront of student life at the National University of Singapore (NUS), with numerous initiatives encouraging eco-friendly practices within hostel communities. From recycling competitions and spice gardens to community education programs, NUS students are actively involved in promoting environmental responsibility. These efforts are not just about reducing waste, but about fostering a culture of sustainability that permeates every aspect of campus life. 

Skoobuzz appreciates the efforts as taking small, impactful actions, NUS is cultivating a generation of environmentally conscious leaders dedicated to creating a greener future.