MALAYSIANS PROVE LIVING A WASTE-FREE LIFE IS NOT TIME-CONSUMING, EXPENSIVE, AND INCONVENIENT
The 30 Day Zero Waste Challenge inspired participants to rethink misconceptions about a zero-waste life with fun daily activities and community building
Photo taken from 30 Day Zero Waste Challenge closing ceremony on 6th November 2021
SELANGOR (November 8, 2021) – Zero Waste Malaysia (ZWM) has officially closed the curtains on its 30 Day Zero Waste Challenge, which attracted the participation of 645 participants over the month of October.
A total prize value of over RM6,000 was given out over the course of the challenge (1st – 30th October), which participants deemed “motivating”, “inspiring”, a springboard to build new eco-friendly habits, and a chance to join a community with similar values.
Based on a pre-event survey, the majority of participants joined because they were concerned about the environment and wanted to learn more about the Zero Waste Lifestyle. Several of them also wanted to use the challenge as a platform to motivate themselves and others to live more sustainably. This indicates a strong drive in the Malaysian community to set an example for those around them.
At the beginning of the challenge, 76% of participants indicated they were aware of what it means to live zero waste, but that percentage grew to 97% by the end of the challenge. That means the 30 Day Zero Waste Challenge has successfully raised the awareness of a zero-waste lifestyle in Malaysia.
The greatest achievement of this campaign is that it managed to alter ingrained presumptions about living zero waste. Before they took part in the challenge activities, many participants believed that living zero waste was time consuming, expensive, and inconvenient. However, after the challenge, there was an overall drop in that assumption. The greatest change was in the perception of convenience.
Before the challenge, 36% of participants believed that the zero-waste lifestyle was inconvenient for them and their families. That dropped to just 17% by the end of the challenge. This means the activities and inspiration given by ZWM during the course of the challenge were sufficient to inspire and motivate Malaysians to change their mindsets about their daily actions.
Overall, it’s safe to say the 30 Day Zero Waste Challenge was a resounding success. Although we cannot claim to have created lasting change with this short challenge, we feel grateful that we were able to kickstart a wave of mindset shifts among the Malaysian community.
The 30 Day Zero Waste Challenge is possible thanks to the unwavering support of our corporate partners, Johnson Controls and CompAsia Malaysia. This project is also supported by 1 Utama Shopping Centre, The Food Purveyor (TFP), Malaysia Virtual Recycling Center (MVRC), MINUS, Flawer Studio, Single Step Zero Waste Store, and Soapan Santun.
Project report can be found here.
🗒️ Zerorina