Fun and Learning at Alam Flora’s Sustainability Hunt 2023

Alam Flora’s Sustainability Hunt which has been organised for the 2nd time since 2022 was practically one of the activities many of my friends and I were most excited about…

This is because Sustainability Hunt 2023 aims to encourage community participation in cultivating environmental conservation in daily life through education…

The general public, mainstream media, and social media community networks, including Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) comprising of social media influencers and bloggers, have been invited to participate in this annual program by Alam Flora Sdn. Bhd. (Alam Flora) to further the company's initiatives in conveying messages of environmental sustainability.

The Sustainability Hunt was held in the hopes that the transmission and sharing of this information will shape societies that embrace a more sustainable lifestyle for the benefit of the environment in the future…

Since its incorporation in 1995, Alam Flora Sdn Bhd (Alam Flora) has been one of the leading environmental management companies in Malaysia that is dedicated to serving communities in managing and reducing waste with minimal environmental impact. Alam Flora is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malakoff Corporation Berhad and provides comprehensive waste management services to several concession areas in certain regions of Peninsular Malaysia, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and Pahang… 

So in the wee early morning over the weekend, my friends and I were gathered at the Fasiliti Inovasi Kitar Semula (FIKS) located at Precint 5 Putrajaya for the start of our hunt… we were divided into four groups to facilitate movement but judged individually according to the tasks given…


We were lucky to be in a group together with two amazing and wonderfully sporting Key Opinion Leaders Satthiya and Auntie Purple….

There were a total of five assignments, one which was a pre- assignment of Upcycling which everyone had to contribute in upcycling some used products.. and there were definitely a whole lot of interesting and fun ideas from everyone….

Assignment 1 was TRASH OR TREASURE which we were given five 'Treasure Items' questions about items at home that can be recycled and believe me it was definitely a tough question… it was in Bahasa Malaysia and we had a hard time trying to figure it out and decipher it….

Question 1 went like this : “Dulu di kampung2 memang budak-budak cari, 

Dapat 10 ke 15 biji barulah boleh jadi,

'Tembak' dengan bola atau selipar, lengkaplah sejenis permainan tradisi,

Bawakan juga dua yang sudah tiada isi.”

Question 2 was even more confusing and we had to decide between Express delivery packagings and boxes…..

“Pada 1.1, 6.6., 11.11, antara promosi yang biasa,

Dengan ini Rasanya anda sudah tahu apa maksudnya, Kami mahukan pembungkusnya, lagi banyak lagi kami suka, Baiklah, bila dua otak digabung, akan nampak jawapannya.”

Question 3 went like this…. “Ia tersedia dalam pelbagai saiz isipadu,

Dan memang terkenal sebagai pembungkus jus dan susu, Untuk 'protects what's good' kita diberitahu,

Sekarang bawakan dua yang kosong, 1 liter setiap satu.” And I guess it was the easiest to decipher since most of us know Tetrapaks promises to “Protects whats good”

Question 4 got most of us confused as some were trying to decide what was smaller then Tetrapaks and bigger then the answer the Question 5 before it hit us… lol

“Yang no. 3 lebih besar dari yang no. 4,

Tapi yang no 5 lagi kecil dari yang no 4,

Bawakan sekilo apa saja yang terpakai atau terlipat Markah penuh diberi kalau dapat”

Question 5 went like this, “Barang seterusnya mudah didapati di mana jua, Fungsinya penting untuk mengisi apa saja,

Polimer organik sintetikbahan utamanya,

Bawa apa sahaja terpakai, pelbagai bentuk untuk kita selamatkan dunia.” And so we decided it was plastic containers but what plastic… since question 4 got some of us confused at first too…..

But after brainstorming and all, we manage to get the answers and went on a hunt for the items which was not an easy task considering that some of my friends and I were on a Media Familiarisation trip… 

I bet I made a scene begging for Tetrapaks and juice bottles from the F&B team of the hotel I was staying at and they probably thought I had some screws loose… and when we headed to a mall, I had to humble myself and begged for some discarded cardboard boxes… and my friends and I helped dragged it back to the car… but it was a great experience nevertheless and in a way reminded me that these used items deserve a second chance, as the old saying goes, 'YOUR TRASH IS ANOTHER MAN'S TREASURE'.

Marks was given for correct answers and items brought. Next, and we had to make transactions by selling these recyclable items at the Buy Back Center. Participants who achieve total sales of more than RM5 will earn additional points, which I failed….

Assignment 2 was  UPCYCLING which was given to us like 3 days before the Hunt day which required us to choose TWO or more items that are no longer used at home and creatively combine them to create ONE new practical item for everyday use and recorded in the form of a video with a maximum duration of 1 minute and uploaded on Instagram (Reels) or TikTok to create awareness and provide easy ideas to the public to start 'upcycling' from home instead of simply throwing things away.

Assignment 3 was GO GREEN which required us to pick up a Tetrapak from the "Treasure Item" to be reused (upcycled) as a plant container and plant some Basil herb plants…

This activity promotes recycling and saves costs because there is no need to buy herbal plants every time they are used and to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Assignment 4 was RECYCLE MASTER where we were given a bag of trash and tasked with segregating the items according to their recycling categories. Each correct answer will earn points, which will be accumulated for the overall score which was fairly easy except for a few trick questions (for example- a dirty plastic container with chilli oil on it and such is considered food waste and not plastic as some of us (me included) thought it to be

The purpose of this task is to ensure that participants have knowledge of waste segregation by category and to practice this habit in their daily lives. For example, plastic bottles and food waste need to be separated and placed in separate garbage bags.

Assignment 5 seemed easy but again  the SUSTAINABILITY CHAMPION assignment was tricky as we had to answer the interactive quiz related to general questions about environmental sustainability to determine our own understanding of carbon footprints based on our everyday lifestyle. 

The questions was based on energy usage, recycling practices, shopping habits, and more

At the end of this quiz, we could evaluate our answers and performance as whether we could be considered a SUSTAINABILITY CHAMPION or NOT, and it sure taught is how we should and could incorporate sustainability into our daily lives!

I got away with a small consolation prize for having an informative caption in my pre-posting of which I am grateful but yeah am hoping yo do more and get better in the future…

But this event also taught me that we can and should save the planet by recycling and keeping trash off landfills and while we are doing that, we can also earn some money when we sell the recyclables to the recycling centres near us!!!

So let’s all do our part and “Jom Rawat Bumi” for a better future for our beloved home planet and our future generations
To know more about Alam Flora, check out www.alamflora.com.my