Category: News

Published: Wednesday, 17 April 2019 19:23

by Rebecca Tan

6th April 2019, Kuala Lumpur- In a team of 6, the EcoKnights team held both DIY soap making and DIY self-watering system workshops at the International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL) in conjunction with the school’s Eco Conference on Saturday. Over 70 participants (including students, parents, and teachers) attended the workshops. A booth was also set up, in which participants were able to purchase our merchandise such as metal & bamboo straws, plants, magazine-based baskets, and DIY soaps that were made from used cooking oil to get a start on a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Around noon time, participants gathered at respective laboratories as both workshops were held concurrently. The EcoKnights team were split into 2 teams to ensure the flow of each workshop. Before the workshops started, the EcoKnights team gave the participants a mini introduction to the theme of each workshop. The self-watering system workshop puts an emphasis on the severity of plastic pollution as plastic bottles were the main component that were upcycled for this workshop. Whereas for the soap making workshop, improper and illegal disposal of used cooking oil into sinks and rivers ,which is devastating to the marine lives, were stressed as used cooking oil were utilized to create brand new soaps for the workshop.

For self-watering system workshop, participants were able to choose different kinds of fittonias as their new plant to be implemented into their new self watering system. For soap making workshop, some participants were shocked to know the overwhelming amount of used cooking oil that  were collected over a night at certain restaurants. At the end of these workshops, the participants earned a new way of upcycling used plastic bottles and used cooking oil instead of just discarding and recycling them.

All in all, it was a great experience for the EcoKnights team to meet new faces and an opportunity for the students, parents, and teachers to learn about the impact of plastic pollution and oil pollution on our planet and how to combat it. At the end of the day, both parties learned and benefitted from each other, and everyone got to bring back a chuck of soap and a plant!