Two young Malaysians have been chosen to receive the Queen’s Young Leaders Award 2018, which is an annual award recognising exceptional individuals aged 18 to 29 from all over the Commonwealth who have made significant contributions to their countries.
On top of personally receiving the prestigious award from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the winners will also receive a package of training, mentoring and networking, including a one-week residential programme in the United Kingdom.
Here are this year’s Malaysian recipients:
1. Siva Nagappan Visvesvaran
Source: Queen’s Young Leaders Award
According to the Queen’s Young Leaders Award’s official website, at just 20 years old, Siva has already made great strides in developing environmentally-friendly systems. One notable invention was the Linear Water Storage system he developed for his school, which helped store rainwater using much less space than required.
Siva is now studying electrical power engineering in hopes of developing more sustainable, affordable and environmentally-friendly technology for developing regions. He juggles his studies with work, as he is also the co-founder of a social enterprise called Project Paplet.
Source: Project Paplet
This organisation recycles scrap paper (collected via dropboxes placed in university campuses) into booklets that are then donated to orphanages and NGOs. So far, they were able to recycle more than 1,000kg of one-sided scrap paper into 10,114 booklets. Walao!
2. Wen Shin Chia
Source: FMT
As for 26-year-old Wen Shin Chia, she is an environmentalist who founded Green Yards. She set up this company in hopes of reducing water pollution by offering free eco-friendly soap in exchange for every 5kg of used cooking oil returned to them.
They even collect oil from restaurants alongside households. They have set up collection points in neighbourhoods to make it easier for everyone to dispose their used oil.
Green Yards reprocesses the used cooking oil and uses it to make soap, cleaning products, and candles. What’s even more impressive is that they managed to prevent a whopping 4.7 tonnes of used cooking oil from being dumped down sink drains!
We cannot be more proud of this year’s Malaysian recipients, who continue to find new ways to save our environment. Congrats to Siva and Wen Shin, keep up the good work!
Also read: 7 Amazing Malaysians Who Made Us Proud by Achieving an International Award
