NUS alumni use plastic and glass waste to make floating garden of edible plants

SINGAPORE — Mr Ibnur Rashad had been figuring out how to build a chinampa — also known as a"floating island", a Mexican farming technique that allows plants to grow in shallow waters — when an encounter with a woman carrying recycled water bottles gave him his eureka moment.

The grant is from the Zero Waste Testbed Initiative, which is aimed at supporting youths in the co-creation of innovative solutions towards zero waste and the circular economy. Recycled glass empties are crushed with a glass shredder and added to the substrate, which forms the second layer of the chinampas, where the plant is grown.A kangkong plant which usually takes five weeks to grow in normal soil took slightly less than four weeks when planted on the chinampas.Mr Ibnur's team hopes to contribute to food security in Singapore while working within the land constraints as these miniature gardens can be built in water bodies instead of soil.

The prototypes are currently at Kampung Kampus, a nature-led, experiential learning campus and home of non-profit organisation Ground-Up Initiative, and other citizen farms, where the team is running trials and growing different species of plants.

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