Eco-paddle with Ola! 2025

It's been four months since I shared my sustainability project, Beyond the Flush, at Funan, but my fun journey as an NEA YES Leader continues. The NEA YES Leaders network regularly sends sustainability related programmes to YES leaders. But sometimes events that are for corporate partners are also extended to YES Leaders. One such event was 2025’s “Eco Paddle with Ola” programme. It's not often that you can pick up trash while kayaking along the beautiful beaches in Sentosa… thanks Mr Wen Hwee for this opportunity!

Getting Ready

At the beach, all participants quickly changed to their sports attire and wet shoes, eagerly waiting to head out to sea. The people present today were mainly corporate partners from various industries, such as Signify, to show their commitment towards sustainability. Not sure how many NEA YES Leaders were invited but Wei Kang and I were glad to have received it. The event kick-started with a briefing by Ms Gracie, one of the co-organisers of the event. She highlighted the importance of keeping our oceans clean.

Minister Grace Fu, the event's Guest of Honour, then shared her enthusiasm for the initiative and emphasised the need for collective action to maintain Singapore's clean and green image. She added that the weather, such as the monsoon, may be a contributing factor to the waste in our oceans, but it should not be used as an excuse not to play our part to keep Singapore Clean & Green. There was an interesting Q&A where she challenged the belief that our beaches were clean. She argued that it will be truly clean only when we do not have trash to pick up during beach clean ups (like today). I looked around and hardly saw any litter. I wondered why beach clean up was even needed here.

Sharing another conversation with Minister Grace Fu about sustainability.

The Cleanup

I was paired up with fellow YES Leader, Wei Kang and we excitedly took our kayak as far out as was allowed. We saw Gracie nearby picking up leaves in the sea, leaving us perplexed. She later shared that you can actually find micro plastic hiding amongst a cluster of leaves in the sea due to the sea currents. That was something new to me.

After paddling for 30 mins, we only found 2 discarded plastic bags. Happy that the waters was so clean, we returned to shore and continued our search for trash. Alas, we found loads of trash near tourist hotspots! We were surprised at how much more trash was on the beach as compared in the sea.

An hour later, Wei Kang and I rejoined rest of the 40 participants and combined all our collected trash. It was roughly 15 bags (each bag about the size of an NTUC grocery plastic bag) worth... much more than I expected! A lot of the litter were tiny objects like cigarette buds, beer bottle caps, plastic wrappers, etc. No wonder, I could not see the trash on the beach earlier.

Every little bit of trash on its own is insignificant, but when amassed together, it becomes a big problem.

It was a bit sad to see how much damage human activity is doing to our environment. This got me thinking… despite years of campaigning, why is it that Singaporeans (& tourists) still litter our beaches?

Upcycling Workshop

The workshop that followed was a creative way to repurpose the collected trash. The upcycling workshop took our collected sea glass and driftwood and transformed them into unique accessories and keepsakes.

I made a keychain from the ropes and bottle caps I collected earlier. It looked hideous. I simply do not have a knack for art & craft... But after a while, it grew on me when I reflected that this was a symbol of our hard work in cleaning the beach today. I suddenly had an interesting thought… if we can somehow condition fellow Singaporeans to detest the sight of trash so much so that they will take action, then will we finally be able to keep our nation clean without relying so much on cleaners? Inception maybe?

Reflections

As I reflected on the event, I realised the significance of individual actions in maintaining our nation's cleanliness. The amount of litter we collected on a non-peak day was already 15 bags worth.

Imagine if it was a school holiday or that we did not have cleaners cleaning the beaches regularly… how much worse would it be?!

I'm grateful for the tireless efforts of our cleaners but at same time feel a sense of shame for how reliant we are on them to keep our island clean. The experience further motivates me to do my part in achieving Singapore Green Plan 2030 targets. A single individual’s effort (just like the small pieces of trash) may seem insignificant, but if all Singaporeans contributes, imagine the impact we could create! So, every litter bit counts!

Conclusion

The “Eco Paddle with Ola” event was a fun way to see the potential of collective action in protecting our environment. I'm glad to see Singapore putting so much attention and resources put into sustainability. Let's continue to do our part in keeping Singapore Clean & Green!

See you at the next Beach Clean up!

Chia Howie

25 October 2025

TLDR

Participated in the "Eco Paddle with Ola" event in Sentosa, kayaking & beach clean-up combo, collected 15 bags of trash through collective effort of all participants.