In the past few months, the act of recycling has gradually been taking on the spotlight. Just finished a bottle of water? RECYCLE. Just finished a packet of Milo? RECYCLE. Just received a nightmarish score on your Maths test? RECYCLE (okay maybe not until after your exam). And with the introduction of a mini recycling bin in every classroom, recycling is now easier than ever in TCSH. Despite this new ease, however, many people still seem to be demonstrating a lack of understanding and an overall lack of care for recycling. Did you know that by disposing of your recyclables into the appropriate bin, you could be building roofs, providing prosthetic limbs, jackets and all while saving crazy amounts of energy?




Everybody knows that recycling is good for you. It is good for the Earth, which will be good for us so why don’t we do it? It really is not that hard to walk a few more steps and throw your plastic bottle into the recycling bin instead of the normal bin and it really is not that hard to choose the right bin. The amount of waste we produce can shock you. Collectively, Americans use approximately 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour. The average American uses seven trees a year in paper, wood, and other products made from trees. This amounts to about 2,000,000,000 trees per year. And these are just statistics for America, a single country. Can you imagine this for the whole world?
So what really happens to those plastic containers, aluminium cans, paper and tetrapaks you throw into the recycling bin?
Let us start with the plastics. The majority of the right plastic that gets recycled in TCSH consists of plastic bottles. The majority of the wrong plastic consists of plastic bags and plastic wrappers (yes, those Tim Tam wrappers and Mamee Monster packets are sadly not recyclable at TCSH). Also, please note that plastic lids on coffee cups are actually recyclable plastics - if you look closely at the lids, they actually have a recycling label on them.
Once delivered to the recycling centre, plastics are sorted and then crushed together to form huge cubes. At a plastic processing plant, these cubes are broken down and shredded, cleaned and distributed to manufactures. These manufactures then melt this plastic to be made into different products such as toys, stationery, t-shirts or simply different forms of plastic again and making plastic out of recycled resources uses about two-thirds less energy than making new plastic.


Next up, in the same bin as the plastics, we have the aluminium cans. The pop tabs from aluminium cans can be used to make prosthetic limbs and if you haven’t noticed, there’s a little carton thing that’s attached to a poster around TCSH for people to drop off their pop tabs to go into making prosthetic limbs. The pop tabs are combined with steel to make these limbs for the needy. Surprising as it may be, such a small effort can have a dramatic effect on such a huge industry. Using recycled pop tabs helps reduce the cost of producing prosthetic limbs by as much as 90%.

Aluminium cans are 100% recyclable and are often transformed back into new cans. Making new cans takes 95% less energy to produce than if one were to make a whole new can from scratch. What happens to the aluminium cans exactly after being collected from the recycling bin is similar to plastics – they are formed into cubes, shredded, cleaned, and rolled into thin sheets to be sold to manufacturing companies to be made into cans again.



Onto the next bin, we have paper! Once again, just like plastics, the paper is sorted at the recycling plant. Then, water is added to the paper to create a pulp which is screened to remove glue, staples and such. Like aluminium, paper is often transformed into a similar version of itself again. It takes only a week to recycle newspaper and magazines into fresh newsprint to be printed on again. Cardboard is recycled into other cardboard-packaging products.



Moving on, we have what might be the easiest recyclable item ever - tetrapaks. There is so little room to go wrong with tetrapaks. All recyclable tetrapaks have a label on them and all you have to do is remove the straw from your carton once you’re done and ready to recycle it. (Flattening is also appreciated so they take up less room.) Tetrapaks, like aluminium cans are 100% recyclable - 75% paper fibre and 25% plastic or aluminium. So after being collected by the recycling center, the tetrapaks will be mixed with water in a gigantic blender, kind of like the pulping process with paper. Here, we will obtain a separated mixture - one with paper fibre and one with a polymer-aluminium mix. The paper fibre can be made into tissue, office paper and egg cartons while the poly-al mix can be made into roofing tiles. All these products are made with drying and heating processes.




Side note! You should really try your best to clean all your items before disposing of it in the recycling bin. Grease and food stains on plastics and papers can contaminate the recycling process and cause it to be un-recyclable in the end.
And of course, all these recyclable items can even be used in DIY projects to make all sorts of quirky items from plant pots to decorative household objects to dresses to furniture. Some whole houses are even made from these recyclable items.






Some people may feel that they do not play an important role in the recycling process, that there is simply too much waste (or rather too many ignorant people) such that no amount of recycling on their part could ever really make a difference, and the end of the world is imminent and inevitable and therefore pointless to fight. However, I believe that every single one of us should take on responsibility as a fellow resident of the Earth and make it our job to do our part in making earth a little more comfortable to live in and a little less closer to destruction. The power of one small person, one small act of recycling can cause a huge difference to a huge earth.


Written by Chin Wye Mun


Q: What makes you want to take up the job as the president of Student Council?
To me, Student Council (SC) is a representation of the student body and is an outlet for which the students can express their concerns and needs. As I am person who enjoys mingling with just about everyone, listening, communicating and helping people are second nature to me. I also aim to make an impact (a positive one hopefully) everywhere I go and TCSH is no different. With a hunger to inspire and a passion for people, I thought I would be a suitable fit for the role.
Q: What is your greatest strength that equips you for this job?
Thus far, I believe my greatest strength is definitely my people skills. Being able to understand the needs and wants of not one, but an entire community seems like a challenge but I feel up to it.
Q: Tell us more about yourself. What are you goals and priorities? 
I assure you I'm a perfectly normal human being - not a workaholic robot 24/7. However, I do have some goals that I would like to achieve on a personal level. One of the current ones is to be SC president (surprise, surprise). A few more years down the road, the goal is simply to be happy. I believe happiness is the greatest measure of success because it takes into account all the physical achievements as well as the emotional ones. I would say my priorities include my family and friends - they play a pivotal role in how I am now and how I will be in the future. Then comes a mishmash of education, food, sleep, sports (in an ever-changing order).
Q: What do you think TCSH needs the most right now?
Personally, I believe TCSH needs a strong and effective communication system. For ECA purposes, we have tons of Whatsapp groups and even more Facebook ones online - all of which is often difficult to keep track of if one is not sitting in front of the phone/computer all the time. For academic purposes, the split usage between various learning platforms such as Edmodo and Moodle may actually cause more confusion that rectifying it. Thus, I believe there is a solution and that it's only a matter of time before a structured system is put in place to ensure the smooth flow of both work and play.


Interview by,
Sim Shin Ying,
Head of Writing Department,
Editorial Board TCSH.

Photography by,
Samantha Yong,
Head of Photography Department,
Editorial Board TCSH.



Seth Lane is a very brave boy. It is something we can all agree on after listening to his extraordinary story.



Imagine having a sickness, where even the most harmless germs and bacteria would kill you, and you have to isolate yourself from the outside world in a sterile room to save yourself---- just like being trapped in a bubble: you can see everything going on outside, but you cannot be in it to feel it. Bubble boy, bubble girl.

Imagine how it is like for a 5 year old boy, where at this age, his curiosity is at its highest peak. He would want to play outside with his friends, run under the sun, catch the raindrops with his hands.
Sadly this does not solely exist in our imagination. It is real and happening to Seth.

When Seth’s parents started the “Wear Yellow for Seth” campaign, of course we find no reason to object (who would resist a little boy’s request to wear his favourite colour for him, sick or not sick). Posters are printed, distributed and pasted all around the college, and on the big day itself, the response was overwhelming.



Yellow, yellow, yellow everywhere. Forget grey, there were literally 50 Shades of Yellow in the college. It was like someone brought sunshine into the normally chilly college. Everyone was bussing and simply radiant in yellow shirts. It might be the side-effect of the “Thank God It’s Friday” mood, but most likely it was because of the realization that they were contributing for a good cause. It was definitely a great way to end a week.


When there was a dull in the hustle and bustle of the hangout area, I believe that everyone looked at their yellow shirts and thought of Seth, the little hero who has showed us courage, hope, and the glimmer of warmth in a world that is getting colder and colder.  

Written by Shin Ying,
Head of Writing Department,
TCSH Editorial Board
Dear Seth,

You are a very brave boy, and that is what we 1000+ (?) students and staff of Taylor’s College Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia collectively think.

 We simply could not fathom how extraordinary your little spirit is. You represent the best of humanity by having the courage to endure, to persevere, to hope again even after all those sufferings.

Of course on 27th March, many of us showed up in yellow, your favourite colour. Yellow shirts, yellow trousers, yellow jackets. It cheered us up too when we knew this simple gesture can lift your spirits up.


It is quite a good colour, you see, it reminds people of a lot of good things: afternoon sunlight on pavements, sunflowers in full bloom, and even cute little Minions in their “Underwear” song. 



When you need to look at our pictures, do remember this: it is an honour, and privilege to be able to wear yellow for you. It is remarkable to know that superheroes are not just strong, tough men, but little children too. And you are our hero!

Stay brave, little man, and get well soon! Our thoughts and prayers will always be with you and your family.


Love,
Everyone in Taylor’s College Sri Hartamas
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