Opening Remarks by Ms Low Khah Gek, CEO/ITE, at the MOU Signing between ITE and MeTech Recycling Pte Ltd

Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment;

Mr Benedict Lim, Chief Executive Officer, MeTech Recycling Pte Ltd;

Mr Lee Wei Kwang, Director of Virogreen (Singapore) Pte Ltd;

Guests and Partners from MSE, NEA, MeTech and Virogreen;  

ITE Colleagues and students, Ladies and Gentlemen;

ITE’s Sustainability Framework & Partnership with MeTech

1. ITE is very glad to have the strong support and partnership of MeTech Recycling. To better appreciate why this ITE-MeTech collaboration is a meeting of minds, values and purpose, I need to explain ITE’s sustainability strategies and goals.
   

2. Singapore has set a target of achieving net-zero carbon emission by 2050. The public sector has a more ambitious target of achieving net-zero by 2045 and we are required to publish our Environmental Sustainability Disclosures for FY2023 onwards. ITE started one year earlier and published our first Disclosures for FY2022. In doing this first report, we compelled ourselves to calculate our carbon footprint and develop our sustainability strategies, goals and targets to reduce energy water and waste.
   

3. ITE adopts a ‘4C’ Sustainability Framework:

• Campus – we strive to reduce energy, water and waste and aim to achieve Green Mark Super Low Energy (College East already SLE).

• Curriculum – we embed sustainability modules, green skills and relevant ISO standards into the various trade courses and started new  specialisations to prepare students to be the talent pipeline for emerging areas such as installation of solar panels, maintenance of EV, energy storage and grid management, handling  of hydrogen and other alternative fuels.

• Culture – we encourage and foster ‘sustainability-first’ mindset and habits among staff and students

• Collaboration – we work with industry and community partners to provide real-world opportunities for our students to apply their minds, hearts and hands on impactful sustainability projects and activities. This is where the value of the ITE-MeTech collaboration lies.
  

MeTech Recycling Businesses and Services

4. MeTech Recycling is an established recycling company with decades of experience in the Reuse, Recycling and Recovery of precious resources from electronic waste. MeTech businesses and services are also going into the countries in the region. I went into your website. Let me share three observations and insights that I have gleaned:
   

   • Cyanide Leaching. I find this fascinating for two reasons: my specialisation is Chemistry and cyanide is well-known to be highly poisonous and lethal. There are several ways for precious metals to be extracted from electronic components. The ‘cyanide leaching’ method is adopted after exhausting the other less dangerous processes. It is for the removal of  gold from smart cards, BGA chips, connector pins etc. The chips/cards/pins are submerged into a cyanide-based solution and gold ‘dissolves’ into the solution as gold ions (Au⁺). The resulting gold-saturated solution is sent for electrolysis – pass an electric current through the solution. Gold ions will move to the cathode (negatively charged electrode) which supplies electrons to the gold ions turning them into  gold! I wonder whether the students who visited MeTech had the chance to see this cyanide leaching and electrolysis processes. 

   • R2v3 Standard. Your IT Asset Disposal (ITAD) processes are certified R2v3 – this is the Responsible Recycling Standard by Sustainable Electronic Recycling International (SERI) of the United States. This means ‘used’ and ‘end-of-life’ electronic equipment are processed in an environmentally responsible manner, protective of the health and safety of workers and the public, and that all data on all media devices is secured until destroyed. R2v3 as a ‘stamp’ of quality and assurance is noteworthy. 

5. ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. This Certification is useful to assure customers of quality. ITE has included some of these ISO standards in our curriculum to enable  our students to keep abreast of industry’s green standards.
   

Our Collective Commitment

6. ITE and MeTech Recycling are committed to support industries, companies and the community to  reduce their carbon footprint through creating awareness, education and providing know-how. We are grateful that MeTech Recycling hosted our ITE students, got them to understand your business and services and then set them the task of designing a Sustainability and Recycling Visitor Centre for you.   We will be viewing their projects later.
   

7. Looking ahead, ITE and METech have started to work on an exciting new initiative: a free online course on Data Sanitization. Data sanitization involves securely erasing sensitive information from devices in such a way that it cannot be recovered. Being able to erase data properly is important as this means that devices can be recycled or repurposed instead of being discarded. This way, we reduce e-waste.   Course participants will learn various techniques, such as cryptographic erasure and software-based data wiping. This free online courses is provided by ITE and MeTech Recycling to educate, equip and enable the public to reduce e-waste. It would also promote the values and habits of Reuse, Recycling and Recovery.
   

Conclusion

8. In closing, I want to extend our sincere thanks to MeTech Recycling for your staunch partnership and support for ITE. Our appreciation also to SMS Amy Khor for gracing this event and witnessing our MOU signing. Together, we shall forge a greener tomorrow! Thank you.