Does what we do make a difference to tackling climate change? I’m taking that question to COP31

SINGAPORE – When my co-founder and I started The Interchange in 2023, a social enterprise dedicated to tackling Singapore’s waste problem, the big dumpster in Mei Ling Street was right outside our studio.

Most afternoons the compactor ran, and you could hear large objects being crushed.  

For most people, what happens to their waste is out of sight, out of mind. For me, it was a daily reminder of how much we throw away.

That’s part of why I’m going to COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, as a Singapore youth delegate. 

COP, short for the Conference of the Parties, is the UN’s annual climate conference where countries gather to negotiate how the world should tackle climate change. It also brings together businesses, researchers and civil society organisations to exchange ideas and advance climate solutions.  

I don’t expect this global conference – taking place from Nov 9 to Nov 20 – to fix the waste I used to watch pile up outside our door. But I want to understand how decisions made on the international stage translate into action on the ground, and whether small initiatives like ours can contribute to something bigger. 

Waste is closely connected to climate change. How we produce, consume and dispose of materials affects emissions, resource use and, ultimately, the future of our cities.

At The Interchange, we tackle waste from two ends: upcycling hard-to-recycle materials into products people want, and running workshops that teach people how to do it themselves.

Some people have asked me, why go, when the politics looks so hard?

I understand the scepticism. 

COP can look like all talk and no action. And 2026 is no easier, especially given the geopolitics of wars and tariffs.  

Countries still disagree on climate finance, and developing countries continue to face a significant shortfall in the funding needed to adapt to climate change.  

But these disagreements are precisely why COP matters. Climate change does not stop at national borders, and no country can tackle it alone. 

That is exactly why Singapore needs a voice in the room. We are low-lying, exposed to rising seas and heat, and we depend on countries working together.

COP provides a platform for countries to agree on collective climate goals and the rules to achieve them. 

It gives vulnerable nations, including those most exposed to climate impacts, a seat at the negotiating table. 

I’ve spent three years on The Interchange, making an impact locally. 

In 2026 alone, we have run 38 workshops for about 400 participants, made and sold around 180 products from waste, and kept about 120kg of waste out of the bin. 

I keep asking myself, how much difference are we actually making? 

When climate change is a global challenge, how much can a small social enterprise in Singapore realistically achieve? 

I hope COP31 will help me find some answers.  

I want to understand how climate negotiations work, and learn from funders, corporates and other social enterprises. I want to see how other countries and businesses approach waste and adaptation, and what we can learn from them. 

More importantly, I want to understand how the work we do in Singapore fits into the broader global effort to tackle climate change, and where we can make a greater impact.

COP is new to me. 

I’m worried about how well I understand it, especially as someone with no formal or technical training in sustainability because I want to do this properly as part of Singapore’s youth delegation.

At the same time, I’m not sure how much room there is for discussions on the circular economy at COP31. 

The COP31 presidency lists zero waste among its priorities, but waste management is not a standalone formal agenda item in the negotiations. 

At The Interchange, we work in three steps: research, design, fabrication. 

We rethink, reuse and repurpose materials like rice bags, drink cartons and soft plastics, which have limited recycling pathways, turning them into everyday products and giving people a way to take part.

We see people using rice bags to store things and bag up trash. 

But if a bag can hold 10kg to 25kg of rice, why throw it away when it has so much potential? 

When we turned it into a shoe bag, it sold out within 24 hours, with nearly 380 people on the wait list.

There was almost nothing online about how to work with polypropylene (PP)-woven rice bags and drink cartons, so we figured it out ourselves. 

Both are rigid, which made them hard to sew and turn into products, and we’re still learning. 

We now share what we’ve learnt on social media and on our website so that others can learn from it, experiment with these materials and come up with solutions of their own. 

Singapore already has policies to support waste management and recycling, like the Zero Waste Masterplan and the Beverage Container Return Scheme. 

But much of what we work with, like drink cartons, woven rice bags and soft plastics, isn’t covered by the return scheme. 

This is where I believe ground-up initiatives have an important role to play. 

Policies can create the conditions for change, but businesses, communities and individuals also have a part in rethinking how materials are used and valued.

At COP31, I hope to learn how other countries bring these different stakeholders together and how policy, innovation and community action can reinforce one another.

My interest in climate adaptation is also why I am keen on going. At our community farming plot in City Sprouts Henderson, I grow crops and raise chickens. 

As temperatures rose, both the crops and the chickens struggled, and we had to cool the space to keep them healthy.  

We tried different ways of shading the plot. Some worked, but many didn’t. It was a first-hand lesson in what climate change could mean for something as basic as growing food. 

The numbers back up what we saw. 

According to the Meteorological Service Singapore, the country’s average temperature has risen by about 0.24 deg C per decade since 1984. Singapore’s Third National Climate Change Study found around 21 days a year above 35 deg C over the past 40 years. 

By 2100, that could rise to 41 to 351 days, depending on emissions.

Kampy is our climate adaptation hub where we test what actually grows well in Singapore’s climate, and why some of the vegetables we commonly eat struggle in the heat.

Heat can change how food tastes and its nutritional qualities. 

Lettuce, for example, flowers too early in the heat and turns bitter. These may seem like small challenges on a community farm plot. But they point to a much bigger question: How will we continue to grow food and safeguard our food security as the climate gets warmer?

Heat doesn’t affect everyone equally. 

Outdoor workers, stall owners in food centres, seniors and families in homes without adequate cooling often feel it first. 

At COP31, I want to see how adaptation gets discussed and funded, and whether solutions reach the people most exposed. 

I also hope to bring home ideas that can help communities in Singapore become more climate-resilient, whether through urban farming, better use of resources or simple, practical ways to cope with rising temperatures. 

Singapore is developing our first National Adaptation Plan as a living document to guide the nation in adapting to climate change.

I’m particularly keen to explore how waste management can contribute to domestic efforts and advance international climate action commitments – from building more resilient communities to reducing the impact on the environment and helping countries like Singapore and other nations to become more sustainable cities for future generations.

My aim at COP31 is simple: to find our place. 

I want to learn from others, build connections and return with fresh ideas that can strengthen the work we do in Singapore. 

In the urban farming and sustainability community, I have found people willing to share what they know. That’s where I have come to believe that climate resilience is built together.

My team is in this as much as I am. If I come home understanding negotiations and policy better, we can explore new possibilities for The Interchange. 

I hope to return not just with new knowledge, but also with a clearer sense of how our work can contribute to Singapore’s climate efforts. 

I believe that climate education matters here. 

People can only prepare for a hotter future if they understand what’s coming, and I hope what I’ve seen and heard at COP31 can help others in Singapore better understand the challenges ahead and the role they can play in addressing them. 

When COP31 ends, the headlines will move on. The discarded waste will still pile up. The plants will still need shade.

But the conversations at COP31 should not end when the conference does. 

Their real value lies in what happens afterwards, when countries turn commitments into policies, businesses invest in solutions, and communities put ideas into practice.

I may not be able to change the world on my own. But if COP31 teaches me anything, I hope it is how the small actions we take can become part of something much bigger.

And when I return to Singapore, there will still be rice bags to repurpose, crops to grow and people to engage. That’s where I’ll get back to work.