Environment (GET-Green)

The GREAT KITARecycle Challenge 2024 had officially come to an end with a closing and prize giving ceremony for all winners from 60 participating schools in Negeri Sembilan and Melaka.

This program, which was carried out from July to November 2024, successfully recorded a total collection of 107,239 kilograms of recyclable materials under one of its competition categories.

As a token of appreciation for their outstanding efforts, Great Eastern Takaful Berhad awarded special prizes in the form of recycling facilities to the two schools, SMK Seri Pagi and SRA Jaim Merlimau Pasir, for their remarkable achievement of collecting over 5,000 kilograms during the GREAT KITARecycle Challenge 2024.

Great Eastern Takaful believes that this initiative will continue to nurture a recycling culture amongst the younger generation, empowering them to become champions of change for a more sustainable future.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone involved, especially to GETB’s strategic partner, SWM Environment Sdn Bhd, as well as the dedicated teachers, students, and parents, for their unwavering support of this environmental sustainability program.

Together, we can Reach for Great and create a greener as well as sustainable future.

The GREAT KITARecycle Tour, which kicked off in August, introduced over 2,000 students from Negeri Sembilan and Melaka to recycling and upcycling initiatives through the use of an innovative 2-in-1 upcycling machine.

As the final stop of the Jelajah Upcycling, GETB’s Skuad Hero Lestari team visited SK Lui Selatan, Negeri Sembilan, alongside the SWM Environment 3R Troopers, to share valuable insights on sustainable practices with both students and teachers.

The students responded positively to the briefing, demonstrating their awareness of recycling initiatives and expressing excitement over the new knowledge they gained about upcycling. They even had the opportunity to try out the upcycling machine themselves, successfully producing 30 upcycled products, such as hair comb, ruler, and bag clip.

As the GREAT KITARecycle Challenge 2024 approaches its end, we hope that SK Lui Selatan will secure a win, especially in recycled material collection category.

With the aim of nurturing environmental awareness among students, Great Eastern Takaful's Skuad Hero Lestari, in collaboration with SWM Environment, continued its Upcycling Tour. This time, Skuad Hero Lestari of Great Eastern Takaful visited SMK Tunku Syed Idrus to deliver talks on environmental awareness, recycling, and an introduction to the 2-in-1 upcycling machine.

SMK Tunku Syed Idrus is one of the schools which has been actively involved in recycling initiatives, and the exposure to upcycling helps the students to gain a deeper understanding of steps they can take to take action towards plastic pollution.

A total of 650 students and teachers had the opportunity to try out the innovative 2-in-1 upcycling machine, which processes type 2 and type 5 plastic waste into high-quality new products such as hair combs, rulers, and bag clips. Within just an hour, 20 upcycled products were successfully produced.

Together, we Reach for Great in protecting the environment, ourselves, and future generations.

In conjunction with the GREAT KITARecycle Challenge 2024, a collaborative program with SWM Environment focused on environmental sustainability, Great Eastern Takaful visited several participating schools in Negeri Sembilan and Melaka to conduct awareness briefings on environmental awareness and introduce upcycling initiatives through an innovative 2-in-1 upcycling machine.

The program, which took place in August, involved more than 2,000 students from 7 schools such as SK Melekek, SK Bukit Beruang, SRA Jaim Batang Tiga Timur, SK Convent Infant Jesus 1, SK Tun Haji Abdul Malek, SRA Jaim Merlimau Pasir, and SMK Seri Pagi.

Students and teachers were introduced to the upcycling process through demonstrations of how used plastic items are transformed into higher-quality products such as hair combs, rulers, and bag clips. The program also gave students the opportunity to produce their own upcycled products, starting with sorting plastics by type, followed by shredding the plastic, and finally melting the plastic into product molds. Through this initiative, 200 upcycled products were successfully produced, contributing to a reduction in waste sent to landfills.

The introduction of this upcycling initiative provided students with new and unique insights, as many of them had never seen the process of turning used plastic items into new products.

Congratulations to the schools for their dedication in instilling a love for the environment among the students while encouraging recycling practices. Great Eastern Takaful hopes to empower the younger generation with the knowledge and skills needed to become environmentally conscious individuals. Together, we can Reach for Great and create a more sustainable future.

Cultivating a love for the environment among students is crucial, as they will be the generation that carry forward the sustainability agenda, which brings benefits to future generations.

In line with this important mission, Skuad Hero Lestari of Great Eastern Takaful was once again invited to Penang to conduct an awareness briefing on environmental conservation, recycling, and upcycling at three selected schools in the state.

With the involvement of 900 students from SMK Jalan Damai, SMK Seri Balik Pulau, and SK Bayan Baru, more than 80 upcycled products were successfully produced through demonstrations of a 2-in-1 upcycling machine that was introduced during the briefing. Moreover, these three schools also marked the closure of the Upcycling Tour for 2024.

Great Eastern Takaful hopes that this program will make each student more aware of the importance of environmental preservation. Together, let Reach for Great and move towards a greener and more sustainable future.

As part of the GREAT KITARecycle Challenge 2024 tour series, a collaborative environmental program with SWM Environment SDN BHD which focused on education and student involvement, Skuad Hero Lestari of Great Eastern Takaful, together with the 3R Troopers from SWM Environment, have conducted an environmental awareness briefing at one of the participating schools, SK Lereh, Melaka.

The briefing session included enthusiastic participation from students who are eager to see and try the newly introduced 2-in-1 Upcycling Machine.

Simultaneously, Skuad Hero Lestari continued the Jelajah Upcycling GETB series at SMKA Sharifah Rodziah and SMK Dato Dol’ Said, Melaka, engaging a total of 1,700 students across the three schools. This program recorded the highest student participation since the Jelajah Upcycling series began. The program was also innovatively modified to allow students to share their opinions and ask questions to the speaker from Skuad Hero Lestari.

Through this program, students successfully produced 72 upcycled products, such as hair combs, rulers, and bag clips, as part of the initiative to reduce plastic waste in landfills.

Great Eastern Takaful remains committed to helping the nation raise environmental awareness across all levels of society, particularly among students as it is our collective responsibility to care for the environment for the sake of future generations.

Great Eastern Takaful, through Skuad Hero Lestari, continues its commitment towards environmental sustainability by extending its Jelajah Upcycling series to schools in the northwest coast of Malaysia, Penang. The primary focus is to raise awareness about environmental conservation among various segments of society, including corporate companies, NGOs, university and school students, as well as the public. Skuad Hero Lestari also introduced the innovative 2-in-1 Upcycling Machine to students and teachers, which the Upcycling Machine can transform used plastic into new quality products.

The Jelajah Upcycling in Penang involved 900 students from SK Pengkalan Jaya and SMK Convent (M) Bukit Mertajam in this environmental awareness program. Students learned about recycling and upcycling initiatives that can help reduce the growing issue of plastic waste pollution. They also gained new ideas on generating income through upcycling used items.

During the program, a Q&A session was held between students and the speaker from Skuad Hero Lestari, providing an opportunity for students to ask questions about environmental issues and the 2-in-1 Upcycling Machine which was introduced during the event. Through practical sessions with the upcycling machine, students successfully produced 80 upcycled products, including hair combs, rulers, and bag clips, which they could take home as souvenirs.

Great Eastern Takaful hopes that this initiative will empower students with specific knowledge and skills to care for the environment. Together, we can Reach for Great and create a greener and more sustainable future.

Under the GET-Green CSR initiative, Great Eastern Takaful in collaboration with SWM Environment, had organised the GREAT KITARecycle Challenge 2024. The launching ceremony took place in Melaka on 19 June 2024, marking the official commencement of the event. This program focuses on promoting environmental sustainability through education and student participation.

This strategic collaboration involved 60 selected primary and secondary schools from Negeri Sembilan and Melaka competing for cash prizes totalling more than RM30,000.

The challenge features 4 categories for primary schools and 5 categories for secondary schools, including the recycled materials collection, 3R sculpture design competition using recycled materials, essay writing, storytelling, and short video competitions.

By engaging students in these diverse categories, Great Eastern Takaful aims to cultivate awareness and responsibility towards the environment from an early age. This initiative not only promotes the importance of recycling but also nurtures creativity and innovation in managing used plastic waste. Together, let's strive to "Reach for Great!"

Once again, Skuad Hero Lestari was invited by a school in Malacca to conduct the Upcycling Programme, a sustainability initiative by Great Eastern Takaful under the GET-Green CSR pillar. On 11 June 2024, around 300 students from SK Kg. Tun Razak took part in this programme.

The session featured an engaging and enjoyable talk, along with quizzes emphasising the importance of environmental conservation. In this programme, it showcased the Upcycling Machine that converts type 2 and type 5 plastics waste into new practical items such as rulers and hair combs. The students also participated in hands-on sessions with the Upcycling Machine, creating 20 products including hair combs and rulers. This interactive activity reinforced the principles of recycling and sustainability.

Skuad Hero Lestari is more than just a sustainability initiative or educational program, it’s a call to action. Great Eastern Takaful aspires to equip these young individuals with the knowledge and skills needed to become environmentally conscious adults who will protect our planet. Together, let's Reach for Great, and work towards a greener and more sustainable future.

Continuing their commitment to sustainability, Skuad Hero Lestari participated at the GRADUAN ASPIRE Career Fair 2024, held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) on 25th and 26th May, 2024. The event included an engaging briefing session highlighting the significance of environmental conservation while introducing the upcycling initiative as part of GETB’s sustainability journey which converts types 2 and 5 plastic waste into useful items.

The initiative attracted over 1,000 visitors during the two-day event, with hands-on sessions and created 100 items such as rulers and hair combs. This interactive experience effectively promoted recycling and sustainability principles among the visitors.

Great Eastern Takaful's goal is to instil environmental responsibility in all participants. Through these initiatives, attendees learned about reducing waste and reusing waste materials, fostering a culture of recycling.

Great Eastern Takaful’s upcycling champions, or newly introduced as Skuad Hero Lestari continued its Jelajah Upcycling Programme to increase environmental awareness among school students and the community.

On May 21, 2024, over 500 enthusiastic students from SK (P) Methodist and SK Semabok in Melaka were engaged in hands-on sessions on operating the 2-in-1 upcycling machine which turned plastic waste into new products. Over 100 upcycled items were produced throughout the sessions. This initiative which aimed to promote sustainability and green lifestyle was well received by the students as they were given the opportunity to produce upcycled items themselves while having new ideas on producing more upcycled items at home. Skuad Hero Lestari also took the chance to enhance financial literacy especially on saving and generating extra income from recycle and upcycle activities.

The Jelajah Upcycling Program is more than just education, it’s a call to action. Great Eastern Takaful hopes to empower these young individuals with knowledge and skills to become environmentally conscious individuals who protect our planet. Together, we can Reach for Great and create a greener, more sustainable future.

Great Eastern Takaful Berhad (GETB) had the opportunity to be part of the Takaful Masuk Kampung programme organised by the Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA) held at Alor Mengkudu, Kedah and continued to raise awareness on the upcycling initiative and environmental care to around 1000 local community with over 50 upcycled items produced during the event.

The event was officiated by YB. Muhamad Radhi Mat Din, member of Kedah state assemblyman for Alor Mengkudu which later on had the opportunity to operate the 2-in-1 upcycling machine himself. The environmental awareness briefing was also conducted to the community in highlighting the concerning plastic pollution issues and how we could all play our role to ensure greener environment.

We hope that this initiative sparks creative ideas on managing plastic waste at home and collectively creates cleaner and healthier environment for a better quality of life.

On 6 December 2023, Great Eastern Takaful Berhad (GETB) continued its mission in raising awareness on the environmental sustainability while introducing upcycling initiative using plastic waste to 100 students of SK Ampang.

The students gave full attention throughout the program and grabbed the opportunity to operate the upcycling machine and produced new upcycled items.This  demonstrated that the upcycling initiative does not only attract adults but school students as well.

We hope that this program will help increase the awareness on the importance of recycle and upcycle practices, all for the environmental sustainability. 

In commemorating the World Cleanup Day and World Ozone Day 2023 celebration, Great Eastern Takaful Berhad (GETB) participated in the cleanup activities at Pantai Saujana, Port Dickson as a part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts.

In collaboration with SMW Environment and Jabatan Alam Sekitar Negeri Sembilan, the beach cleanup activities and raising awareness about protecting the environment to the community involved over 360 volunteers various organisations including university students.

The volunteers collected a total number of 19,260 solid waste including cigarette butts, plastic utensil, plastic waste, water bottle as well as the bottle lid from the cleaning process that have been done.

Great Eastern Takaful took the opportunity to introduce its upcycling initiative and carried out the upcycling machine demonstration in hope to raise awareness on managing plastic waste and producing high-quality upcycled items from it. 

Great Eastern Takaful Berhad (GETB) had conducted an environmental awareness briefing and introduced the upcycling initiative to a total of 257 students from SK Subang, Hulu Langat on 7 September 2023.

This program was even more special with the involvement of  five volunteers from Squad Hijau of SMK Abdul Jalil. The volunteers aided the upcycling machine demonstration session to all students whilst having the opportunity to contribute towards preserving the environment.

Great Eastern Takaful Berhad (GETB) was thrilled to be able to share the knowledge via the environmental awareness briefing whilst introduce the upcycling initiative to 183 students from SMK Abdul Jalil on 12 September 2023.

During the awareness session, the students and members of Squad Hijau of SMK Abdul Jalil were given the opportunity to learn and operate the 2-in-1 upcycling machine. This program aimed to provide new learnings especially on producing better-quality products made of recyclable plastic waste.

This activity was hoped to spark new creative ideas for sustainable lifestyle practices among the students.

Great Eastern Takaful Berhad (GETB) continues to embed the upcycling culture amongst employees by organising a GETB-wide upcycling competition called GET-Up Battle in its quest to encourage all employees to make good choices when it comes to managing plastic usage and waste. More employees were trained to operate the 2-in-1 upcycling machine and produce new upcycled items such as rulers, comb, soap dish and bag clips.

This 1-month long competition starting in March 2023 aimed to foster cooperation amongst employees towards a common environmental goal while giving back to the community whereby all upcycled items will be distributed to the mass public during the environmental awareness program throughout the year.

Great Eastern Takaful Berhad (GETB) was pleased to be able to raise awareness on the environmental preservation to more than 230 mySalam crews located in Putrajaya and Sarawak in March 2023.

The crews were given the opportunity to observe the upcycling machine demonstration and an a try-out session to produce the upcycled items themselves.

Through this program, a total of 236 upcycled products have been produced and indirectly, the efforts had served the purpose of reducing plastic materials from being disposed in landfills.

Along its environmental movement, GETB conducted an awareness programme to 100 students of SMK Lembah Subang on 26 January 2023, in collaboration with Eco Garage and Sea Monkey Project for an engaging environmental talk and hands-on activities to produce upcycled items and plastic pouch from different types of plastic waste. 

During the session, the students were given some new information on plastic pollution at the sea and the harm it brings to all sea creatures which eventually fits in the food chain before they are being thought about ways to combat the concerning issue at their own capacity. This programmed had also sparked interests among the educators to further educate other students on the importance of protecting the environment.

Themed 'dare to be different, we do it right', Great Eastern Takaful sets new Malaysia Book or Records with Malaysia’s largest turtle sand sculpture built in Cherating, Pahang in conjunction of its Agency Headstart 2023 event in January 2023. With the presence of around 1,200 agency force, the event witnessed the great spirit of takaful advisors to help preserve the environment, in addition to providing the best service in protecting over 1.5mil Malaysians.

It was a great year-opening initiative as the largest turtle-shaped sand sculpture in Malaysia - measured 8.8 meters long and 6.4 meters wide was built to raise the awareness of all participants and the community about environmental issues and plastic pollution endangering various species of marine life.

The Chief Executive Officer of GETB, Shahrul Azlan Shahriman said, "As a family takaful operator who is very concerned about this intensifying issue, we step forward with extraordinary action to draw the attention of our agency force about plastic pollution. Reports related to marine life being severely affected by plastic is not new, in fact it has been going on for a long time and such cases are increasing to the point that marine animals are facing the risk of extinction. We believe that with collective action and cooperation by all agency force supported by more Malaysians, we can reach for great together.

"This unique event offered the opportunity for its participants to experience the fun of upcycling activity while being well guided on plastic waste management measures.  

Great Eastern Takaful in collaboration with Sea Monkey Project had organised an upcycling workshop for 167 students of University Malaya in December 2022.

The workshop was aimed to raise awareness on the concerning plastic pollution issue while sharing some new learnings on upcycling initiative along with the introduction of the 2-in-1 upcycling machine.

The students were given the opportunity to learn how to operate the upcycling machine and produce new items from recyclable plastic waste. 

Tapping on the digital and sustainable business practices, Great Eastern Takaful (GETB) is taking a big step into embarking a sustainable business journey as per Value Based Intermediation Takaful (VBIT), rolled out by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). The VBIT focuses into growing the Takaful industry by integrating value-based concepts seamlessly into the respective business practices. 

In November 2022, GETB embarked a meaningful collaboration with Sea Monkey Project, an organisation that advocates in reducing plastic pollution, and turning wastes into reusable materials and upcycling them for a good environmental impact.

The launched of Sustainability Room which placed the newly purchased 2-in-1 recycle & upcycling machine at the workplace demonstrated the commitment to help save the environment. Via this purchase, GETB is able to continue spread awareness and sustainability practices by introducing and encouraging upcycling activities to the community, and mass public via series of recycling workshops. 

Great Eastern Takaful in collaboration with Sea Monkey Project organised an upcycling workshop with the local community and visitors of Taman Tugu Malaysia in October 2022.

The environmental awareness program was carried out for 80 individuals in which it consisted some new learnings on recycling and upcycling initiatives.

The participants were given the opportunity to operate the 2-in-1 upcycling machine and produced the upcycled products of their likings such as pendants, key chains and wristlets.

Great Eastern Takaful had taken a more proactive step in curbing the issue of plastic pollution by holding several technical training sessions on the use of 2-in-1 upcycling machine among its employees.

Through this session, a total of 47 employees were trained to operate the upcycling machine including a briefing session on safety measures and the types of plastics to be used in producing the upcycled products.