Program Details:

Event Write Up:
Under the Stars: Zero Waste Festival happened on the 1st of October, Saturday 2022 from 2PM – 9PM @ Taylor’s Lakeside Campus. It was a one-day event that had an estimated 2,000 turn out with 30 vendors, Zero Waste Ecosystem Partners, over 40 ZWM volunteers and almost 80 corporate volunteers. Needless to say, it was a lot – of good!
Let’s take this from the very beginning. Our event planning team of 10 began the journey of planning this event back in July.


The morning of the festival began with POURING rain and a not so great weather forecast. After gathering prayers and thoughts from our whole crew, the sun came up just in time to start welcoming guests and kick-off the event with our workshops! We had 4 different workshops all agreeing to conduct them in a low waste manner: DIY Bath Bombs, Upcycling Crochet, Embroidery using old shirts and making Vegan Nasi Ulam!




As guests started to come in, our vendors were set up and ready to greet them! We had a variety of vendors from F&B to traditional zero waste stores, upcycling home makers selling Saree bags and paper wallets, to educational vendors talking about green energy. What made this different from previous years is that we also brought in vendors who do not typically sell zero waste or zero packaging – this was done to attract a new crowd – the majority of Malaysians, teaching them about how they can serve more sustainably too.






Alongside all this, we also had some exciting things on the agenda! Thanks to Celebrity Fitness and Under Armour, we had two energetic Zumba sessions that really livened up the atmosphere! What’s a festival without some blood circulation right? In between that, we also had some Lucky Draw sessions giving away free Peanut Butter from Jobbie Nut Butter as part of the 30 Day Zero Waste Challenge! The music and voices from our emcee, Jeremy Teo and volunteer crew made sure everyone was well taken care of. The outdoor space gave plenty of “Instagramable” spots with awesome setup from Lubar Camp and a photo booth from Daily Sparks. Attendees could also rent picnic sets from Daily Sparks to enjoy.




So what did we do to make this as sustainable as possible? Here’s a breakdown!
- Offering refillable water solutions (water dispenser)
- Educating vendors to transact using the Zero Waste Guidelines
- Sustainable workshops (Upcycling and package-free experiences)
- Sustainable Education through games that utilised our resources!
- Sustainability Ecosystem Partners: Recycling (Trashcycle), Container Rentals (Tapauware, Opack) & Repair Workshops (Kaki Repair)
- Reusing materials for event decorations & signage
- Allocating a compost bin for food waste
- Low waste experiences (Hair Braiding using upcycled fabric with the COCOdry team!)
Another special experience we had in conjunction with the educational mini games played was a hair braiding experience utilising old fabric scraps that would have been thrown away otherwise! Festivals all filled with colourful experiences like hair braiding and rainbow ribbons – we partnered and were supported by COCOdry to bring this vision to life!


Because of these initiatives, we managed to avoid 1,600 single-use disposables, brought in 80 broken items (25% success rate of repairs) and collected 50KG of recyclables.
Figures are estimated.


Towards the evening, we kicked off the Open Mic session which was co-hosted by Jeremy and Zee Avi! It started with a stunning performance from the Taylor’s Music Club and some incredible local artists who volunteered their time to come be with us! Right about this time, the rain kicked in which was noooot what we hoped for, but it was something we kept in mind #climatechange right?
As our team prepped to move all the PA equipment and set up our new spot under the roof, we were grateful for the audiences’ patience! Thankfully, the show went on, as it must! Zee Avi livened up the crowd singing some classic songs with the audience grooving along. Luna Macula also presented a creative light projection filling the venue with lots of colour and mystique. After a couple more performances, we closed off the night, sharing our final thanks and spreading the word that Zero Waste is all about taking things…
…One step at a time!




Testimonials
Sarah Rhodes
Plastic Free SEA
ZWM put on a magnificent festival! This is the second one I’ve joined and the energy, ideas and collaboration of so many volunteers and businesses is wonderful to see and feel a part of.
Ezra
ZWF Attendee
Twas a great event! Lots of cool activities with lots of great line-ups for shows. Above all, though we can’t see the stars but the stars shone definitely in every person that was there.
CC
ZWF Performer
I love the concept and the staffs. They are all so kind and lovely. Thank you so much for making this world a better place!!