Earth Day Awareness

Earth Day was celebrated on 22-April.

We went around asking folks in the office to imprint their pledges on a big board. The support was fantastic, we gathered about 100 pledges!

Words on the board says:
"We pledge for a Greener Earth. Use Mugs to make that Difference!"

Experimenting with Mug Paints

Check these sample mugs, with close-up shots...

Colours and Kids

Realistically, it would be easier to get mugs off the shelves from the shops.

But we want to make a difference!

So, we choose to paint the mugs with kids! :D
Yes, 250 mugs all in one weekend. Sounds crazy? Well, we think it's worth it.

By involving the next generation, we bring awareness to the young of the benefits of reusing an item and its impact to our environment.

And when working with such a large quantity, and with kids, we take more care in how we carry out the event.

1. We will use water-based ceramic paint instead of ink-based. So if the kids (or even the adult volunteers) make a boo-boo on the mug, we can easily erase it out.

2. We bought sample mugs to try out the paint and bake process. Baking is needed to ensure the paint "stick" permanently, and will be dishwasher safe.

3. We decided on mugs which have the traditional flat surface (rather than the more "modern & curvy" types). Easier for the paint job.

And the effect?

See the samples at the booth we will set up for the Earth Day on 22-April @ Theatrette. Alternatively, look at the sample pics we put in our blog.

Ceramic Painting?

Water color, poster color, what other colors do we have?
How about painting on ceramic?
hmm.. Is it the same?
Does the smooth surface make it any easier?
Perhaps the curvature plays a role?
How do we do it?
What do we need?
Where do we get them?
hmm.. wait a minute.. how does the paint stick? Would it not wash off?
Why do we want to paint on ceramic?



These questions are not for me to answer.. perhaps millyturtle has a clue? hint*hint

On-site Inspection

Back to basics -- we visited the pantries to identify number of mugs needed, where to put them and how best to communicate to pantry users.

An estimated half-hour to visit ALL the pantries turned into 2 hours long (after work, of course!)

The Mugs Story

It all started from noticing that we use ALOT of paper cups in the office.

In fact, it's an average of 33,000 of them each month. Effectively, 396K cups end up in the bin every year.

What does that mean for our environment?

1. Energy

Creating 396K cups uses energy equivalent to powering 16 houses.

2. Trees

We become part of the reason why deforestation happens faster. About 163 trees are felled to make these cups.

3. Waste

Just take a look at the bins, you will find it piling up everyday in no time! A year's worth of paper cups thrown generates about 3 tons / 3 car-loads of waste.

So what can I do?

All is not lost, the solution is really simple.

Start by using your own mugs, and reserve the paper cups for the REAL needs i.e., for our visiting guests. Eventually, the Mugs Rulez project will supply mugs as well to our visitors, so that will immediately reduce our dependency on paper cups.

Sounds simple enough? Say YES!

The Initial Stage

IKEA, Tesco, Jusco, Giant, PJ Old Town... We were in the search of a suitable mug for the project. That was March.

We spent time in reserching, planning and having meetings. And finally our project plan was drafted! phew~

The Members!

We sweated, we puffed, we huffed and we rumbled on! We made our pledge, the judges heard us, we're on our way!


From the left: Jit Shen, Jason, Michelle, Tan

The Birth of Mugs Rulez

After winning in the Green Dream Preliminary Round, here we go, our project started. As an initiative for EC@W, we introduced - Mugs B-)