It�s Fun to be Green

Thursday, 2 July 2009

It�s Fun to be Green

It was all good fun for me on the 23rd of June. Sunway Pyramid’s “Bring Your Own Bag” campaign had organized a special event designed exclusively for the media.
The “Bring Your Own Bag” campaign, aptly named BYOB, is Sunway Pyramid’s effort towards a greener environment. By offering free parking on every Tuesday for patrons who do their shopping without using paper or plastic bags, Sunway has provided a new way for customers to lead greener lifestyles.
The event was also in conjunction with the campaign’s launch of their new BYOB cloth bags that would be made available to shoppers at RM10 each.
The event was a treasure hunt where participants were to be split into groups of two, and would be given an hour to complete as many clues as they could to obtain a maximum of 10 BYOB bags from locations around the entire complex. Participants would need to overcome obstacles such as tossing empty bottles into recycling bins, and answering trivia pertaining to environmental issues.
I was excited to begin the hunt, but not before it was announced that I would be pairing up with celebrity Xandria Ooi! It was quite an experience being paired up with a famous media personality, and also quite an honour to be able to participate in the event alongside her.
The hunt soon kicked off, and the teams were soon sent scurrying around the complex trying to solve various puzzles that required us to crack our heads to figure out locations and decipher clues.
All throughout the hunt, Xandria and me never stopped for anything except to solve clues and collect the bags. It was a tiring race indeed!
The clues we were provided led us to various corners of the shopping mall including parking lots, buggy pick-up points, and various stores. We were made to perform tasks such as find out the price of a stack of old-newspapers, toss recyclable items into their respective coloured bins, do word puzzles, and answer simple questions about energy conservation.
The hunt also managed to introduce participants to the various eco-friendly facilities available throughout the mall, such as the electric powered buggies for the disabled or elderly.
It was a heart-pumping race as we managed to collect all 10 bags with 10 minutes left to spare. And as we arrived back to the gathering point, we were a little dismayed to find that we were not the first team to complete the hunt despite how quick we were able to solve our clues.
However we were glad to have been able to solve every clue thrown at us and we congratulated the other participants on their efforts.
Little did we know that a surprise was in store for us when they announced that for every bag collected, the participants would receive a Jusco voucher worth RM100. That meant that we managed to secure RM1,000 in cash vouchers between us! It was a pleasant surprise to top off the hunt!
After the prize giving ceremony, we had our vouchers split and both of us held RM500 worth of Jusco vouchers in hand. A hefty sum to spend, indeed!
If asked as to how I would spend my prize, I would not be able to provide an answer just yet. It will take a while to decide how to spend such a large sum in a sitting. It would probably take me a few trips down to the Jusco at Pyramid to completely deplete my suddenly bountiful resources.
All in all, I must say that the event was a fun one, and an event which I do hope to encounter again in the future.
Sunway’s effort towards greener lifestyles must be lauded, especially when it comes to providing shoppers with alternatives to paper and plastic bags. I do sincerely hope that more similar programs and efforts will follow suit, so that this community will be transformed into a more eco-friendly one.
“It is imperative that we must take cognizance of the environmental issues faced and the need for proactive action to arrest it,” remarked Kevin Tan, Chief Operating Officer of Sunway Pyramid.
He added, “We are making a commitment to proactively preserve it for a sustainable future. I am confident that sowing seeds of awareness today will cultivate a harvest of green habits tomorrow.”