Fadley Faisal
Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) yesterday launched the BIBD EcoAlam Festival celebrating sustainability, highlighting local businesses, and reaffirming the bank’s commitment to preserving the planet for future generations.
The festival is a three-day event held at the PGGMB building.
BIBD’s Managing Director and CEO Junaidi bin Haji Masri officiated the launch.
In her welcoming speech, BIBD’s Chief Marketing Officer and Chair of the Sustainability Transformation Group Hajah Nurul Akmar binti Haji Mohd Jaafar shared that the BIBD Eco-Alam Festival is intended to be a combination of a marketplace, a workshop, and a space for learning, with fireside chats and panel talks revolving around food security, food science, the food eco-system and food waste management.
She added, “In Brunei Darussalam, food waste represents the largest proportion of waste in our landfills – approximately 32 per cent according to the Brunei Climate Change Secretariat.
For this reason, today’s festival aims to promote environmentally conscious practices and highlights ways of tackling and reducing waste.”
The BIBD Eco-Alam Festival is holding a series of panel discussions featuring prominent speakers from the government sector, local businesses as well as education institutions who will be discussing issues surrounding food security and food waste management.
In addition to supporting local vendors, BIBD has also made it a priority to minimise impact on the environment by adopting cashless payments during the event, reducing plastic usage by making use of eco-friendly packaging and encouraging visitors to bring their own reusables, as well as eliminating food waste.
BIBD is working closely with local companies such as Biofield Brunei, Tebalik Plastik and Shaliz Waste Recycling Sdn Bhd who are offering solutions to the issue of food waste.
Aside from featuring local food vendors, the BIBD Eco-Alam Festival will also see various panel discussions and dialogues centred around the theme of food security, food sciences, food eco-system and food waste management.
The festival is organised in collaboration with Big BWN Project and endorsed by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Development with event partners Crop Culture, Tebalik Plastik, Shaliz Waste Recycling, Biofield Solutions, EnEvo and Aloha Nature House Brunei.
The festival concludes tomorrow.
