Inaugural New Life Youth Forum Brings Young People into the Conversation on "Untrashing Nature"
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 26 October 2026 – Leading homegrown financial services company Singlife hosted the inaugural New Life Youth Forum, "Untrashing Nature: How Can It Be Done?", on Saturday, 24 October 2026, bringing nearly 100 students and young adults together at Central Library, to discuss the impact of everyday choices on the environment.
Guest-of-Honour Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment delivered the keynote address.
In his speech, Dr Janil said the waste challenge is, at its core, a question of how people value the resources nature provides. "As Bordalo's works remind us, what we discard still has value. The challenge is how we can better recover that value, rather than allowing useful resources to go to waste," he said.
The latest larger-than-life sculpture by Portuguese artist Bordalo II depicts an orangutan mother-and-baby pair created using waste material collected from across Singapore. Presented by Singlife as part of its multi-year stewardship initiative called New Life – A Better Way to Protect Tomorrow, the seven-metre-tall artpiece was unveiled on Thursday, 22 October at Gardens by the Bay in the presence of Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, as Guest-of-Honour, as well as His Excellency Carlos Pires, Ambassador of Portugal to Singapore. It stands as a stark reminder of the consequences of overconsumption and the need to make lifestyle choices today to protect the world we're leaving for future generations.
Speaking on Singapore's Zero Waste Masterplan, a multi-pronged plan launched in 2019 to support our transition towards a circular economy, Dr Janil said Singapore has seen daily domestic waste per person fall by about 21 per cent over the past decade, and that 78 per cent of households now report that they recycle, up from 72 per cent in 2023. The review of the Masterplan, which Dr Janil announced earlier this year, will identify new opportunities to reduce waste, strengthen resource recovery and extend the lifespan of Semakau Landfill, Singapore's only landfill, built to hold incineration ash and waste that cannot be incinerated.
Dr Janil also shared early results from the Return Right Beverage Container Return Scheme, which entered full implementation this month. He said: "During the six-month transition period, more than 48 million beverage containers had been returned through the scheme, diverting over 800 tonnes of material from incineration for recycling." The reality, however, is that Singapore's overall recycling rate stands at 52 per cent, down from 59 per cent in 2019.
Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, said that initiatives such as New Life can make a difference. "By transforming discarded materials into works of art, Bordalo challenges us to see value in what we might otherwise throw away. His works remind us that changing our relationship with waste begins with changing how we view waste. Art has a unique ability to spark these important conversations, inspire new perspectives, and encourage more sustainable choices in our everyday lives."
At the panel discussion, Chia Ko Wen (Head of Sustainability, Singlife), Dr Dee Chia (Deputy Director, Audience Development, National Gallery Singapore), Jayasri Narayanan (Assistant Director, Conservation and Science, WWF-Singapore), and Joline Tang (Founder, The Sustainability Project) offered perspectives of consumers, businesses, conservation groups and cultural institutions on the main sources of waste, what individuals and organisations can do about them, and the potential of art to turn empathy into action. The discussion was moderated by sustainability advocate Chan Kah Mun.
Chia Ko Wen, Head of Sustainability, Singlife, said: "Singlife helps people protect their tomorrow, and sustainability is part of that responsibility, because the choices we make today affect the world we leave behind for future generations. Our research shows that people are more likely to act when they believe their personal choices can make a difference. Through our New Life initiative and public forums like these, we hope to help young people take ownership of their personal choices and turn what they know into practical action."
From awareness to action
At the forum, Singlife also announced the launch of the New Life Pledge, inviting the public to take up one or more of eight simple daily actions to contribute to a more sustainable future. These actions range from taking public transport and choosing reusables, to repairing or repurposing before buying new and considering the environmental and social impact of their investments.
The eight actions were drawn from 25 everyday actions studied in the Singlife-SGFIN Sustainable Future Index (SFI) 2026, a national survey of 1,500 Singaporeans and Permanent Residents by Singlife and the Sustainable and Green Finance Institute (SGFIN) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), first released in February 2026. Its follow-up white paper, "Closing the Sustainability Action Gap", published last month, noted that while awareness has grown significantly among Singaporeans in recent years, they show a modest uptake of sustainability action. The white paper revealed that "ownership" is the strongest driver of sustainable behaviour: people are more likely to act when sustainability feels personally relevant and they believe their choices make a difference. The New Life Pledge is designed to put this insight into practice: by inviting people to incorporate small, lasting habits into their daily lives, it gives them a personal, concrete first step to convert awareness to action. The public can take the New Life Pledge at newlifesg.com/pledge.
Following the first iteration of the New Life Youth Forum, several more similar events have been lined up in the coming year to bring young people together for more conversations around stewardship and sustainability, along with voices from government, conservation groups, businesses and the arts. The New Life initiative will also see in the coming months the launch of a limited-edition children's book and sustainability-themed art contests to engage the public. These efforts aim to inspire Singaporeans to turn what they already know about the environmental challenges facing our planet into everyday action.
New Life by Bordalo II is now on display at SG50 Lattice at Bayfront Pavilion, Gardens by the Bay. For more information, visit newlifesg.com.
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Singlife
Singlife is a leading homegrown financial services company that offers consumers a better way to financial freedom. We are headquartered in Singapore with a presence in the Philippines.
Singlife meets diverse customer needs by offering a comprehensive suite of insurance products, including life and health, general insurance and investments, employee benefits and financial advisory solutions. We achieve this through a differentiated, open-architecture distribution model and Singapore's largest network of financial advisers.
A pioneer in the digital insurtech space, we offer digital solutions accessible through the Singlife App, MySinglife portal and the Group's investment platforms dollarDEX and GROW.
We are a key player in the employee benefits solutions space and are the exclusive insurance provider for the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs and Public
Officers Group Insurance Scheme. We are also one of three government-approved long-term care insurance providers in Singapore.
We take our commitment to achieving Net Zero seriously and are an official signatory of the United Nations Principles for Sustainable Insurance and the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment.
Singlife was formed from the merger of Aviva Singapore and Singlife, originally an insurtech start up, in January 2022. Singlife is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Life, who acquired Singlife in 2024. We have over S$16 billion in assets as of 31 December 2025 and are rated "A" and "Baa1" by Fitch and Moody's respectively.
Sumitomo Life was established in 1907 and is one of Japan's largest life insurance companies, with over US$300 billion in assets as of 30 September 2025.
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