UNIQLO Tackles Marine Pollution in Terengganu with Adopt-a-Beach & Plastic Upcycling Livelihood Project

In line with its parent company Fast Retailing’s sustainability targets and focus on zero waste and marine conservation, UNIQLO Malaysia initiated two projects in Terengganu earlier this year to help address the state’s marine and environmental pollution and improve its waste management infrastructure. While the first project named Adopt-a-Beach encourages local communities to keep their beaches clean and guides them on proper ways to process litter and waste for recycling purposes, the Plastic Upcycling Livelihood Project (PULP) sets its sight on eventually supporting locals to start a small social business to upcycle plastic waste and turning them into useful items.

Adopt-a-Beach

The Adopt-a-Beach project consists of two main activities: regular beach clean-up and set up of recycling stations at ‘adopted’ beaches. Working with the Faculty of Science and Marine Environment at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), local communities including UNIQLO’s customers will be invited to participate in beach clean-up activities, which will be organized regularly. To this end, UNIQLO has provided AIRism t-shirts to keep participants cool and comfortable as they gather to collect litter and waste from the beach under the hot and humid weather.

To encourage beach users to properly sort and dispose their litter and waste, UNIQLO Malaysia donated 10 recycling stations made up of three bins each to collect plastic, tin and glass recyclables. Working with Majlis Bandaraya Kuala Terengganu (MBKT, Kuala Terengganu City Council), these stations will be distributed along the coastline of ‘adopted’ beaches.

“We are thankful to Universiti Malaysia Terengganu and the Kuala Terengganu City Council for their partnership and support to our sustainability projects. Our approach is not only to provide the means to a short-term end, but to educate, guide and involve the local communities on how they can contribute to cleaning their beautiful beaches and disposing their waste in a more responsible manner, so as to create a better environment in Terengganu in the long run.,” said Yamada Yuki, CEO of UNIQLO Singapore and Malaysia.

Plastic Upcycling Livelihood Project (PULP)

To support the Plastic Upcycling Livelihood Project, UNIQLO Malaysia has sponsored a plastic upcycling machine, which is currently under the care of UMT Faculty of Science and Marine Environment to experiment with items they can produce with it. The next phase of this project is to conduct workshops to train the local community to operate the machine; and with further support from UNIQLO to help them start a small social business to upcycle plastic waste into useful items, such as planting pots and coasters. Plastic waste collected from the Adopt-a-Beach program and UNIQLO Kuala Terengganu City Centre store will also contribute to this upcycling project.

These programs build on other sustainable work UNIQLO has recently completed with Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, including a youth outreach event which took place from June 12 -16 at the varsity ground. The objective of the event was to enhance understanding of the ocean among youths in Terengganu and to inspire them to make positive impact towards the marine environment. About 1,500 students participated in the activities, which included UNIQLO sustainability webinar that shared about the company’s local and international environment initiatives, beach clean-up and plastic upcycling workshop using the machine contributed by UNIQLO.