I have launched the Upcircle app which establishes a marketplace for recyclable items, kickstarted collections of recyclables and other items from households and set up a thrift shop selling items we have collected.

My initial encounter with upcycling and recycling started as a personal undertaking to declutter my life. Picking out countless items which I no longer needed but still in great condition, I set out to find where or who I could contribute these items to. But, despite spending hours online, it was difficult for me to find convenient recycling options in Singapore. However, I did come across interesting upcycling options. This experience inspired me to create Upcircle and to feature a collection of upcycling recipes, to serve as a handy resource for low and zero waste enthusiasts.

In this journey, I met different challenges from difficulty in pitching a model for the business to seed funds and grants to a lack of resources for implementing solutions I have designed. In order to pitch the model successfully, I had to think hard on the feasibility of it, conduct trial tests and then present it confidently to the grant managers. To overcome the lack of resources such as the lack of full-time personnel, I had to acquire a wide range of skills myself in order to tackle different parts of running such a start-up.

Starting Upcircle and launching a community app aimed at enabling circularity!

• identify sustainability problems in the running of the company/business and collect data on it.
• Communicate with stakeholders within the business as well as external partners in order to solve the problem together effectively.