The purpose of the event was to celebrate the launch of Malaysia’s first extensive online trash encyclopedia. Having named it Trashpedia, Zero Waste Malaysia is offering Malaysians a chance to learn and understand the waste that comes out of their own homes and how they can be better inhabitants of the world by practicing recycling in their day-to-day lives. Educating consumers on single-use items and how throw-away culture is very inherently rooted in the way we conduct our lives, the trash-based encyclopedia gives us an opportunity to seek out waste that’s recyclable and find resources and ways to recycle them within the communities we inhabit.

Also making an appearance at the event were artists, Celine Tan and Oscar Lee. The couple, who were the individuals behind the “Last Pride of Tiger” artwork, curated a larger-than-life sculpture of a tiger made entirely out of trash items found around them. Tan and Lee add that most of the trash that they sourced for the sculpture was listed on Trashpedia’s 101 listed items. 

“We are very happy that Zero Waste Malaysia reached out to us for this partnership. We have been creating artwork with waste materials for three years now because we want to highlight how human overconsumption and not watching what you do with your waste can impact Mother Earth. To all of those who love our tiger and want to reduce your environmental footprint, Trashpedia is definitely a good place to start,” shared the artists.

You can check out the Trashpedia list here for more information.