More than 120 Singapore tertiary students diverted 892 kilograms of food and plastic waste over six weeks in national sustainability program SG Eco Loop 2.0.

In a statement on Friday, the program organizer said the event aims to lift low recycling rates. SG Eco Loop 2.0, run by the nonprofit Singapore Deep-Tech Alliance, concluded with a public showcase on October 2.

It drew 37 student teams from 12 institutes of higher learning, each given a S$200 ($155) budget and an industry mentor to build and test a waste-reduction prototype. It is funded by the SG Eco Fund under the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, catalysed by the Temasek Foundation OSCAR Fund, and supported by Lenovo Singapore.

The “biggest impact” prize went to team SCOBYS for turning kombucha-brewing waste into a biomaterial and using black soldier fly larvae to convert food waste into fertilizer and animal feed, diverting 420 kilograms.

A “best innovation” prize went to Foodprint, for an automated return kiosk for campus vending machines. Both teams received S$1,000 and up to six months of support to deploy their ideas.

Singapore generated about 1.7 million tonnes of food and plastic waste in 2025 and recycled only about a tenth of it, the organizer said. The program added food waste this year, alongside plastic, and expanded from a 2025 pilot of 100 students at a single college.

Over two years, the program reached 4,000 students and diverted 10,000 kilograms of waste, with backing from companies including Lenovo.

Clara Chen, a director of the Singapore Deep-Tech Alliance, said meeting Singapore’s recycling targets needed grassroots solutions rather than market-led innovation alone.

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