New beach hub at Pasir Ris Park to boost green efforts

A new structure set up at Pasir Ris Park will become the focal point of environmental sustainability efforts in the area.

The OPP Beach Hub, set up by social enterprise Ocean Purpose Project (OPP), will act as a place from which researchers can study algae and where volunteers can gather to do beach cleanups.

Launched yesterday, it will eventually become a meeting point as well for the group's members to educate fish farm owners about the use of seaweed and mussels in guarding against algal blooms.

The solar-powered hub measures 6m wide and 3m long.

Ms Mathilda D'Silva, 39, chief executive officer of OPP, said: "It is also meant to be something that can maybe become a studio, a live stream area for us to create content and drive behavioural change in the community.

"There will be staff working from here... It is almost like an office space, but it is also meant to be an interactive community space."

Ms Mathilda said OPP will work with the National Parks Board and other organisations to set up a garden on the grass patch in front of the hub.

The garden, which is expected to feature a range of herbs, will be fertilised by seaweed washed up on Singapore's beaches. She hopes that the garden can be set up in the next two or three years.

Ms Yeo Wan Ling, an MP for Pasir-Ris-Punggol GRC, said the opening of the hub will give residents in the constituency more opportunities to play their part in environmental sustainability.

OPP was founded in 2020. It aims to create a movement to drive ocean conservation and plastic pollution prevention via creative projects, such as turning plastic waste into hydrogen.

Another of its projects is the use of seaweed and mussel culture as natural filters to clean Singapore's seas.

For a start, it has worked with a fish farm off Pasir Ris Park to create a curtain of seaweed and mussels around the farm.

OPP has put in place 220 ropes around the farm to attract seaweed and mussels to latch on to them. The seaweed and mussels would feed on algae in the waters, which should thus reduce the risk of algae smothering the waters and fishes within the farm.

Ms Mathilda said the seaweed and mussels can be harvested and processed into bio-plastics.

On why OPP is trying out unconventional ideas in its sustainability drive, Ms Mathilda said: "There is an innate sense of good that people have, but there is also this very intense behaviour that is pertinent to our culture today, which is called the fear of missing out.

"That is the behaviour we are tapping into, to get people to adopt these kind of practices and think out of the box."