Mark showing inspecting the planting media. — Photos by ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE/The Star
WHEN his mother died of cancer during the Covid-19 pandemic, Mark Liao was depressed. He turned to plants for comfort.
His mother had also left some money for him and his sister Jo-Lynn.
His new found interest in plants – along with a longstanding passion for conservation as Sarawak Eco Warriors adviser – made him think of doing something good with the money.
And Plants for Plastic was born.
Located at Lorong Uplands 11 in Kuching, it is a garden centre, event space and community gift shop. It serves as the business arm of Sarawak Eco Warriors, the environmental conservation NGO set up by Mark in 2017.
“After our mother passed away, we wanted to do something good with the money she left us.
Mark showing a corpse flower plant, which has yet to bloom, at the garden centre. — Photos by ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE/The Star
“At the same time our aunt had this space here and we were thinking about what we could do with it.
“I was depressed when my mother died, so I got into plants. And I thought maybe we could try selling plants here.”
The idea was quite small to start with but it started building up as they considered the location and what they wanted to do.
“We thought there was enough space here for an events room. We want to support the local community, so we think this would be a place for them to do workshops,” he said.
They also set aside space for a community gift shop as a venue for local crafters and NGOs to sell their products.
“The gift shop is mainly on consignment basis but we really look into who is putting their items there,” Mark said.
“We have a lot of products that are handcrafted, such as naturally-dyed eco print fabrics.
“We also have things made by (local social enterprise) Heart Treasures, produced by children with disabilities.”
Plants for Plastic, which had its soft launch in early October, mainly sells ornamental plants, with plans to expand into fruits and herbs in future.
“We do not import any plants. All the plants that we have are sourced locally, either from home growers or members of the community,” Mark said.
Ornamental plants are among the items available at Plants for Plastic.
It also offers planting media such as pumice stone, which is good for draining water, green zeolite for retaining nutrients and sphagnum moss for retaining water.
“They have similar benefits of draining and retaining water, it’s a matter of mixing and matching which is suitable.
“But we really want to encourage people to use padi husk and coconut fibre as these are by-products which would otherwise go to waste.
“Padi husk is loose and fluffy so it’s good for water retention,” Mark said.
In keeping with its conservation goals, Plants for Plastic encourages customers to bring their own bags or buckets, particularly for buying the planting media and topsoil, which are charged by weight.
On the venture’s name, Mark said “Plants” refers to the garden centre and event space while “Plastic” is the issue he wants to tackle.
“Plastic is applicable to everyone. Whether you care about the pollution issue or not, we all interact with plastic every day and that’s what we’re trying to address.
“So, basically we’re running a business and doing conservation at the same time,” he said.
Through Plants for Plastic, Mark said he looked forward to creating purpose, especially in environmental conservation.
Eco print fabrics are among the items available at Plants for Plastic.
“In Sarawak we have so many people studying conservation and nature science, but there are simply not enough opportunities for them now.
“Most of them end up doing something not related to what they studied. So I hope we can grow and create more opportunities throughout Sarawak in the future.”
Jo-Lynn added that Plants for Plastic currently had one employee focusing on environmental conservation projects.
“We’re starting with one staff member but we want to create jobs throughout Sarawak,” she said.
Mark also said Plants for Plastic would work hand in hand with Sarawak Eco Warriors on green initiatives focusing on three main pillars of biodiversity, waste and youth.
In particular, he wants to train youths about conservation policy and governance so that they can take meaningful action.
“What we want is for youths to actually champion conservation, doing policy and being involved in decision making.
“But it’s a long way to go. We really need to build capacity for them to do this,” he said.
