2. Index
No. Title Page
1. Foreword 3
2. Project Brief 4-5
3. Sustainability Indicators 6-7
4. Sustainable Economy 8-9
5. Waste Materials: Purchased 9
6. Local Procurement 10
7. Employment 11
8. Social Impact Generated 12-20
9. Raising Awareness 13
10. Skills Sharing 14
11. Gender Equality 15-16
12. Open Source Development 17-20
13. Environmental Gains 21-25
14. Waste Materials Upcycled 22-23
15. Waste Reduction 24
16. Green Technology 25
17. Recommendations 26-27
18. Project in Review 28-30
3. Foreword
Juliana Adam Wong
Project Manager
Being the first of its kind in Malaysia – highlighting
upcycling as its main theme, showcasing various forms
of ways to lead an environmentally conscious and
sustainable lifestyle, as well as being an event that
doesn’t generate as much waste as a normal festival
would, the EcoFestival definitely created waves and lived
up to its name.
In this Sustainability Report, you will find in-depth
reports and statistics of different economic, social and
environmental elements that are related to the project.
This is our way of saying thank you for doing your part
in creating a greener and more sustainable way of
living.
Overall, we believe that the EcoFestival was a major
success, and a great test of collaboration between two
entities. We look forward to bigger and greater
partnerships with EcoWorld in the near future.
Kudos to all teams involved!
4. Project Brief
The EcoWorld EcoFestival was held in conjunction with
the World Environment Day celebrations, and was held in
3 different regions in Malaysia: Penang, Johor and Kuala
Lumpur. The EcoFestival showcased a variety of different
elements related to the environment and sustainable
living, through different engaging activities such as
educational talks, a wholesome bazaar, waste art
installations and upcycled furniture showcases.
The talks were conducted by prominent speakers in the
field of green living, and touched on sustainable
neighborhood building as a whole, to how individual
households can create an ecological and economical
living environments. The bazaar, on the other hand,
exposed the audience to various environmental-related
organizations that touches on different aspects, including
agriculture, well-being and lifestyle.
The overall ambience of the EcoFestival was of an
upcycled theme, where Biji-biji Initiative produced
furniture out of waste materials. This includes building
from used plastic bottles, pallet wood, oil drums,
discarded metal pipes, tree logs, and bamboo poles.
5. Project Brief
Additionally, Biji-biji Initiative’s open-source concept and
principles of alternative energy generation were also on
display through an aqua phonic installation, singing plants
installation, and also bicycle-powered lighting and juicer
installations.
There was also a waste-art installation, the Tree of Life,
which was made utilizing broken bicycle rims, plastic
bottles and metal off-cuts. The Tree of Life is set as a
permanent feature in EcoSky, Kuala Lumpur, where it is
attached to a bicycle-generator that powers up LED lights
hanging from the tree.
Used plastic bottles filled with colored water makes up the Tree of Life
6. Sustainability Indicators
Economic
Local Procurement
Percentage of materials
sourced from local and
international suppliers
Fair wages
How many times more is the
the wage earned by
permanent staff compared to
to minimum wage
Social Inclusion
Total amount of money
channeled to community-in-
needs through employment
Transparency
Adherence to the Biji-biji
Initiative Financial Model
Our Sustainability Indicators are used in designing
sustainable solutions. They structure and enhance
sustainable impacts generated by engaging with Biji-biji
Initiative. The chart below summarizes social,
environmental and economic indicators that we used to
measure our success in delivering EcoWorld EcoFestival.
7. Social
Community Engagement
How many individuals or
communities were engaged
Raise awareness
How many new people were
reached (no. of participants)
Gender Equality
Ratio of male and female
members engaged by job
scope and in decision making
roles
Open Source Development
Development
How many new open source
instructables were made and
shared
Environment
Waste upcycled
Amount of waste, renewables,
renewables, recyclables and
second-hand materials
incorporated
Waste reduced
New methods and
technologies explored to
eliminate waste creation
Sustainable Procurement
How was 1% sustainable
procurement budget used
Green Technology
Aspects of green technology
incorporated (energy
efficiency, etc.)
Sustainability Indicators
9. Waste Materials
24%
16%
48%
0%
7% 5%
Expense by Categories of Materials
Raw Materials Associated Process Materials
Semi-Manufactured Materials Packaging Materials
Waste Materials Sustainable Materials
Biodegradable tableware made from fallen Areca Palm leaves
were used in the EcoFestival, Since then, we have connected and
created business opportunities for the supplier.
30% of the budget was allocated for materials cost. At Biji-biji
Initiative, we categorize materials into six different types. In
this project, we have incorporated 7% waste materials worth
RM 2,400 and 5% sustainable materials worth RM 1,515.
10. Local Procurement
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
0% 0% 0.88% 0 0% 0%
100% 100% 99.12%
0%
100% 100%
Non-Local
Local
Percentage of local vs non-local suppliers
Biji-biji Initiative is committed to support the local economy.
Thus, we aim to source our supplies from local suppliers. In this
project, only 0.88%, that is RM 99.95 worth of materials was
sourced from international suppliers. Below is a chart that
shows the percentage of local procurement made within
Malaysia based on the types of materials sourced. Although
stretch tent was bought from South Africa, it wass not
accounted for in this graph as the tent is an asset.
11. 0%
50%
100%
International
Local
Percentage of local and international team
members
We engage permanent staff, freelancers, volunteers,
community-in-need and interns. For permanent staff and
freelancers, there is a salary cap of 3-5 times between the
highest and lowest earners. For this project, the lowest
earner earned 2.2 times above minimum wage whereas
the highest earner earned 2.7 above minimum wage. All
volunteers engaged were provided an allowance of RM
50.00 per day and free accommodation.
Employment
13. Biji-biji Initiative engages with various organizations that
contribute towards creating a better world through sustainable
living. Talks, workshops and bazaar showcase organized saw
participation of event attendees. Bazaar showcase was
curated to share knowledge and spread awareness on specific
aspects of sustainable living.
Raising Awareness
Bazaar Showcase Vendor Skills shared
1. Eats, Shoots and Roots Growing Food in the City
2. Edible Landscapes Building Edible & Container
Gardens
3. Wild Asia Rainwater Harvesting
4. EcoKnights Sustainable Living
Advocacy
5. GrowTong No-Dig Garden Bed Edges
6. Tree Theatre Group Upcycled Puppetry
7. Zenxin (Johor) Organic Farm Fresh
Produce
8. Samkkya Massage & Health Products
9. I-Cycle Recycling (E-waste)
14. At workshops, participants were taught to compost, make
ecoenzymes, use basic woodworking tools and to grow a garden in
a bottle.
Skills Sharing
Workshops Organized Skills shared
Total Number
of Participants
1. Eats, Shoots & Roots Garden in A Bottle 45
2. EcoKnights DIY Composting 35
3. EcoKnights Eco-Enzymes
Making
35
4. Biji-biji Initiative Pallet Box Making 60
Hands-on workshops that are both fun and educational
15. Gender Equality by Job Categories
Biji-biji Initiative’s work does concentrate more on building and
production. Due to the nature of our social enterprise, our
production team does have more male members. However, we
provide equal opportunity to all members to explore any task that
interests them.
We measure our commitment to gender equality through
percentage of male and female members engaged by (1) job
categories and (2) decision making roles. Below is the data on
percentage of male and female members engaged.
0
2
4
6
8
10
Gender by Job Categories
Male
Female
Gender Equality
16. Gender Equality
Gender Equality In Management
Our management team consists of 2 women and 6 men, which
brings female participation in organizational decision making
processes to 25%. In the specificity of your project, a total of 4
females were involved compared to 1 male involved. Their levels of
participations are as below:
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Organization
Management
Project
Management
Gender by Level of Participation
Female
Male
17. OpenSource
Open Source Development
The Biji-biji Initiative is a strong advocate of Open Source
principles. Our designs are shared online for non-commercial use,
which means the rights to study, change and distribute our
designs are open to anyone with non-commercial intentions. This
allows the designs to be constantly improved, and for us to further
develop our building techniques by making new prototypes. By
trying to spread good ideas instead of protecting them, we can
innovate efficiently and effectively.
We will be publishing the open source designs we developed
through your engagement on our website.. Below is one of the
products we developed in conjunction with EcoWorld EcoFestival.
Wire Mesh Furniture
18. Singing Garden installation always leaves people in awe
OpenSource
We also use Open Source Designs shared online to
develop our products. For all the products below,
instructables are available online at
http://www.instructables.com/
The Singing Garden and Singing Pool Installations are
developed together with GeoCyclab, a collaboration
between Fanch Dodeur and Barth Peron of France, who
were cycling across the world sharing Open Source
Technology.
19. OpenSource
Making the water dance at the Singing Pool Installation
Bicycle powered lights that showcases
renewable energy generation
20. OpenSource
Keeping active, and using renewable energy to produce juice!
Here are the links where we found our inspirations at:
Singing Plant
http://www.instructables.com/id/Singing-plant-Make-your-
plant-sing-with-Arduino-/
Bicycle Blender & Bicucle Powered Lights
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Bicycle-
Generator/
Aquaphonics Table
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Sound-
Come-Alive-Cymatics/
22. Waste Materials
We incorporate waste, renewable, second-hand and
sustainable materials. We measure the amount of waste we
have upcycled in meeting your engagement needs.
Intentionally, we prevent creating more waste that could have
been generated if we were to use conventional methods.
Below is a chart that shows the amount of waste upcycled:
No. Waste Materials Upcycle Total Amount
1. Pallet wood
Bought from a supplier
1140 pieces
2. Bamboo Poles
Bought from a supplier
46 poles
3. Recycled Timber
Scavanged from the streets
6 pieces
4. Broken Bicycle Wheels
Received from a suppllier
20 pieces
5. Diesel Drums
Bought from a supplier
20 pieces
6. 0.5ℓ plastic bottles
Received from EcoWorld
450 bottles
7. Scrap Metal
Sourced from our own Workshop
60 kilograms
23. For EcoWorld EcoFestival, our production experts built
furniture from bamboo poles, discarded logs, pallet
woods and diesel drums. These materials were
incorporated into our electronic installations to create
more sustainable electronic products.
Waste Materials
Our signatory art
installation, Tree of
Life was made from
EcoWorld’s own water
bottles and bicycle
wheels. We also
made pedal-powered
blender from
discarded bicycles.
24. Waste Reduction Strategies Explored
• No use of plastic and polystyrene at EcoTropics-Masai,
Johor and EcoSky-Kuala Lumpur as plates and cutlery
made from fallen Areca palm leaves were used.
• Bags provided to vendor for their product distribution
were made from tapioca-starch and thus, are
biodegradable.
• There was also a ban on the usage of cup lids and
straws.
• Some of the sawdust generated from the furniture
builds was incorporated into table designs.
• Our production processes ensured least waste
generation in fulfilling your order requirements.
Transparency Note!
• Our efforts to provide biodegradable cups were not
successful, as we could not find a supplier that would
cater to a small order value.
Waste Reduction
25. Green Technology Explored
Renewable energy installations namely human-powered
lights and human-powered juicer were featured at the
EcoFestival. These were built using discarded bicycles,
hooked to generators that transforms kinetic energy,
produced by human movements, into electric energy.
A total amount of 330 juices were sold at three locations
altogether. 4,800 watts of energy is needed to produce 1 cup
of juice. In total, 1,58 Megawatts(MW) of energy was
produced using human-power which reduced electrical
consumption from the power grid. At one instant, 1..5MW of
energy can power 1,500 homes.
Green Technology
26. Recommendations
As curators of EcoWorld EcoFestival, we have a few
recommendations on how future engagements could
be made better.
Engagement with vendors
• Early and continuous engagement with vendors are
crucial in ensuring implementation of all initiatives
identified. For example, food vendors at
EcoMacalister, Penang used styrofoam and plastic
packaging.
Soy-Ink Printing
• Banners and infographics printed in conjunction
with EcoWorld EcoFestival used conventional
printing methods. We suggest use of soy-ink for
future printing works and to use sustainable
materials to print banners and infographics on.
• Digital billboards are another option as well.
27. Recommendations
More recommendations for your consideration:
Laser shows
• Lighting laser shows are a very impressive way to
impress and wow guests at night. They leave a
much less negative impact on the environment as
compared to fireworks and other forms of
entertainment whilst providing the same desired
effect.
More Recycling & Composting Bins
• Waste generated was not separated at source.
Providing recycling, composting and garbage bins
with clear label would have added much value to
the total experience.
Bottled Water
• Most obvious waste generated at all three
locations was EcoWorld’s complimentary water
bottles. Water rejuvenating stations would be a
better and more sustainable option.
28. Music buskers keeping the mood lively
The Singing Garden installation that always leaves people in awe.