Leading Singapore's Sustainable Innovations

In this second instalment of the "HER WORLD, HER SPARK" series, presented in partnership with DBS, we speak to Oh Chu Xian, founder of deep tech start-up Magorium. Determined to make the construction sector a more sustainable one, she's revolutionising it with a new technology that turns plastic waste into sustainable building materials.

- Goh Hwee Koon

A whopping 94 per cent of plastic waste goes unrecycled in Singapore, but 29 yearold 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 NEW Bitumen 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.

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.