95% of plastic goes unrecycled in Singapore – she’s changing that, one road at a time

A whopping 95 per cent of plastic waste goes unrecycled in Singapore, but 29 year old Oh Chu Xian has a vision for creating a more sustainable environment here.

The founder of Magorium, a deep tech start-up that converts plastic waste into a material called NEWBitumen to build roads, is committed to building a sustainable future by enabling businesses and developers to dispose of their plastic waste responsibly, quickly and affordably. This novel technology processes various types of plastic, including those that are contaminated.

Coupled with her realisation that countries like Singapore lack robust recycling capabilities – exporting much of their waste and incinerating the rest – this sparked her desire to create an inter-industry solution.

She established Magorium in 2019 as a social enterprise, to ensure that growth aligns with creating meaningful social and environmental impact. “Social enterprises have the responsibility of ensuring that we are creating the corresponding social and environmental impact, while scaling revenue and profit. It creates an additional layer of accountability.”

Chu Xian is no stranger to the road construction industry as she is familiar with her family’s 50-year-old business of producing materials to build and pave roads. In fact, she was already involved in researching the new technology eight years ago. However, convincing industry veterans of its viability was tough, as it’s difficult to change established construction methods that utilise the mining of earth’s natural resources, such as crude oil, to produce materials.

Undeterred, she persevered and eventually scored Magorium’s first project in 2020 to build a factory’s carpark with a driveway using the new material.

“To convince the owner to give us a shot, we gave a discount, issued a warranty to fix things if they go wrong, and offered test reports to show that the new road would work like a normal one,” she recalls. “After that, we started to become more credible in the eyes of older and more experienced professionals.”

One small win led to another, and Magorium was awarded the DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant in 2021. The completion of a green driveway at DBS Newton Green, which diverted more than 8,000 kg of plastic waste from incineration, helped to further raise the company’s profile.

Breaking new ground

Eight years ago, Ms Oh began researching the technology to create NEWBitumen. However, convincing industry veterans of its viability was tough.

Established construction methods rely on the earth’s natural resources, such as crude oil, to make materials. This long-standing reliance makes change difficult.

“There was a general sense of dismissiveness and resistance to trying something new in both the waste management and built environment sector,” she says, though she understood their reluctance to take risks. 

“However, since we are living in a climate where change is increasingly necessary to survive, I believe it is time to fix something that is broken,” she adds. 

Adapt and grow

Chu Xian currently leads a team of six, including her younger sister Shu Xian and members from her family’s business. The five other staff, who have been working with her family for 30 years, are in charge of research and operations at Magorium, while Shu Xian leads the impact and business development unit.

“Good leadership is not about telling people what you want and expecting to see it, but observing what’s required at that point of time, and being able to adapt and be resilient,” says Chu Xian.

She finds that having a team of older and more experienced people works in her favour. As someone who believes in a dynamic leadership style, she does not lay down hard rules on how she wants to work as the founder of a start-up.

“I’ve learnt that there are different ways to achieve the same objective. And when things don’t work out, it’s important to be creative to try and turn things around,” she shares.

For instance, when she realised it was not economically viable to buy plastic waste for recycling, she reached out to partner organisations that want to, but are unsure of how to recycle such waste, to maintain her supply chain. Scaling up the business capacity, while keeping quality and cost control in mind, remains a challenge.

“We’re balancing many essential factors, including the cost, quality and eventual impact we want to create for Singapore’s recycling rates. We need to scale at a speed that makes sense economically, yet remain ahead of potential competition,” explains Chu Xian.

Paving sustainable roads

Chu Xian’s journey in driving change to push for environmental accountability through her work goes beyond recycling plastic waste and building green roads in Singapore.

“My work has led me to interact with the younger generation through collaborations with schools,” she says. “The desired impact lies in creating a sense of ownership in them when they realise that the plastic waste they recycle could potentially end up as material to fix a road in their school compound.”

Chu Xian believes that it is more than just about running a successful start-up. She says: “At the start of every founder’s journey, success means surviving year after year. But at the core of it, my mission has always been to increase Singapore’s recycling rate by using plastic as a resource, rather than treating it as waste.”

Created in partnership with DBS, “HER WORLD, HER SPARK” is a series highlighting trailblazing women in Singapore with the courage to live fully. These women believe in themselves, push boundaries, advocate for change, and prioritise what truly matters. Through each story, we hope to inspire everyone to trust the spark that resides within each of us.

PHOTOGRAPHY Shawn Paul Tan
ART DIRECTION Adeline Eng & Ray Ticsay
HAIR Angel Gwee, using Davines
MAKEUP Benedict Choo, using Cle De Peau Beaute
COORDINATION Chelsia Tan

Additional reporting by The Straits Times