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 a government eco-fund under the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment and catalysed by the Temasek Foundation OSCAR Fund.

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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