Meet the Founder: Georgia Mor, One Planet (Singapore)

One Planet (Singapore) was founded in 2018 by Georgia Mor and her friend when they were exasperated at the state of the beaches in Singapore. They were far from the beautiful Australian beaches where Georgia grew up. Georgia decided to take action and has since organised more than 70 clean ups around Singapore. We caught up with Georgia to find out more about One Planet (Singapore), how she incorporates daily sustainable practices into her life and how we can all get involved with picking up more trash. 

Hi Georgia, please tell us a little more about yourself?

I’m Australian and moved to Singapore in 2018 with my husband Andrew and my children Darcy and Archie. Singapore is the 4th country we have lived in with our kids.

I love travelling and food. And eating food while travelling.

In 2018, I started a community and beach clean up group called One Planet (Singapore).

What inspired you to start One Planet (Singapore)? Have you always been interested in the environment?

Honestly, if you had told me 5 years ago that I would be doing this, I would have laughed! I’ve always been interested in the environment, but not as much as many.

I started One Planet (Singapore) because I was pretty shocked when I saw the beaches around Singapore. They were not like the beaches from my childhood. Rather than feeling helpless, my friend and I wanted to do something small about it, so we started picking up litter around our neighbourhood. We encouraged others to join us, and after some time, people actually did!

We’ve now organized more than 70 clean ups in parks, streets, reservoirs and beaches around Singapore. And while we organize clean ups, we also encourage people to organize their own. 

We have more than 620 members in our FB group, and together, we collected more than 1,900 kg of rubbish from the streets and parks and 5,700 kg of rubbish from the beaches of Singapore, including 2,500 masks.

I love the idea that what started as two people, has turned into something much bigger - that’s something that everyone can do.

What does the future look like for Singapore when it comes to solving the plastic waste problem?

I am no expert in plastic waste, more an observer after picking up a lot of it!

I think the future looks positive, given the investment in circular waste management and the move towards extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws which will make producers responsible for the collection, treatment and disposal of their products. But, unfortunately, Singapore is starting from a pretty low base, given the low recycling rate and reliance on incineration.

We all need to be part of the solution, by changing our behaviour as consumers and recycling properly.

How do you incorporate sustainability practices into your daily life? How do you get your children involved?

I am by no means perfect in my daily life. I think I am better than I was five years ago, but can still do more. 

I suppose mostly, I try to not buy or have a lot of ‘stuff’ unless I need it.

I try to minimise my use of single use plastic, but I do find this really hard – especially with grocery shopping. I have not bought any plastic drink bottles for more than a year now and I try to buy locally produced food wherever possible.

We like to spend time outdoors, and I think our kids understand that we need to look after our environment better. Both of our kids have done a lot of litter picking and beach clean ups as part of service projects for school. 

How can families participate with One Planet (Singapore)? Any tips for children wishing to do a beach clean-up?

Look out for our mid week clean up dates on our social media. Kids are always welcome to come along.

We often run competitions for kids during school holidays, so look out for those too.

Otherwise, you are always welcome to borrow some of our equipment and organise your own clean up at a time and place that suits you. Make sure you tell us all about it on our socials!

Any kind of clean up is a rewarding activity, and I guarantee it will make you and your kids think twice about the plastic waste you generate yourself.

Thanks!