Among the understatements of the century is that climate change is presenting as an imminent threat to every living thing. As everyone knows, climate change refers to long term changes in temperature, precipitation, and other atmospheric conditions on Earth.
While climate change is a natural and constant process that has occurred throughout Earth’s history, the term is commonly used today to refer to the significant and often human-induced changes happening in the global climate system. Emphasis on the “human-induced changes” and yes, this refers to our everyday actions, habits, and practices. Whether this is positive or negative is something we should reflect on and contemplate.
Key aspects of climate change include global warming, rising sea levels and impacts on ecosystems. If you’ve noticed changes in the patterns of rainfall and snowfall, look no further for the answer – climate change.
Some of us may have gone about our days without thinking about how we contribute to climate change, and there are some of us who not only reflect on how it affects the world around us but also think of ways how to minimise our waste footprints.
As the world was on pause mode during the nationwide lockdown period, Lim Hui Bing like so many of us often resorted to food delivery service. However, unlike most, she could not help considering the number of plastic containers she was accumulating and how it would affect the environment at large. She simply described it as a glaring issue and the next question was simply what to do about it.
Hui Bing credits her sister for coming up with the idea of giving plastic waste a new purpose. What began with home experiments, escalated to visiting landfills and recycling centers to find out what exactly happens to plastic waste. It was a surprise to realise that plastic waste that has been cleaned, sorted, and shredded was accumulating in storage waiting to be given a new lease of life. They also learnt that white plastic waste is more sought after as opposed to the colored ones as the white ones could be turned into other colors. Hence, they formulated a way to make use of the abundant colored plastic waste available and Purpose Plastics was born.
Purpose Plastics is a collaborative effort between Hui Bing and her sister to upcycle plastic waste into beautiful and functional everyday items.
From hairclips to liquid soap dispensers and desk organisers to lovely mahjong sets, Purpose Plastics is nothing short of innovative and creative.
At the cusp of graduating from IMU’s School of Medicine, Hui Bing took her passion for the environment to the next level and applied to be a youth ambassador for a nonprofit organisation, Arctic Basecamp. Arctic Basecamp is represented by a team of Arctic experts and scientists committed to bringing the Arctic to the World Economic Forum annual meeting at Davos, Switzerland. This is especially significant as the World Economic Forum (WEF) sees the convening of global political and business leaders, academics, and other influential figures to discuss and collaborate on key issues facing the world. The annual meeting in Davos is the WEF’s flagship event where it brings together leaders from various sectors to discuss and address pressing global challenges.
Hui Bing submitted her application in September 2021 and after rounds of shortlisting, interviews and assignments which centered around how the melting of the Arctic Circle affects Malaysia in terms of rising sea levels, its affects on local ecosystems and its broad implications on global climate patterns, Hui Bing emerged as the successful candidate and went on to solely represent Malaysia as a youth ambassador under the Arctic Basecamp banner at the Davos summit in January 2023.
Understandably Hui Bing counts this as one of her most if not most significant experience to date and shares that it was an honor to be on such an influential platform representing Malaysia on an issue as critical as climate change.
During her time in Davos, Hui Bing was personally interviewed by Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, a former Malaysian Minister of Finance where she shared her role during the summit and her interesting accommodation amidst the frozen tundra. She looks back on the experience with much gratitude and fortified her resolution to continue spreading awareness on environmental issues.
As Hui Bing plans for her future to continue practicing medicine, she is also busy working out the best way forward for Purpose Plastics and the best way to move forward. Purpose Plastics will continue to bring functional upcycled items to the public, as it plays an important and significant role in spreading awareness to the community. Purpose Plastics has afforded Hu Bing the opportunity and platform to talk about environmental issues in a less overwhelming but still effective way.
On her experience so far as an entrepreneur she encourages anyone with the intention to just go for it. Her main takeaway from her journey so far is the beauty of charging forward and embarking on new things head on is learning how much we can adapt to change and think on our feet. If we could only work through our initial fears, we might surprise ourselves with what we could achieve and how high our threshold for discomfort really is.
Hui Bing began her thrilling journey as an entrepreneur and youth ambassador for Arctic Basecamp among other achievements during her time as a student in IMU, Advancement and Alumni Department is now here to continue following Hui Bing through her days to come. Our best wishes to Hui Bing in her all her future endeavours.
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