Curtin Sarawak Open Day signature Newspaper Bag Design & Break Competition back for third year

Miri – 18 September 2015 – The upcoming Open Day of Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) on 26 September 2015 will feature the event’s signature Newspaper Bag Design and Break Competition for the third consecutive year.

Aimed at promoting the 3Rs of environmental sustainability (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), the competition is being organised by the student-run Curtin Environmental Engineering Club (CEEC) with support from the university’s Open Day Committee and Miri City Council. The Miri City Council is sponsoring the prizes for the third time as part of its ‘Go Green’ initiatives.

The competition is open to members of the public regardless of age and entry is free of charge. The top three winners will win cash prizes of RM300, RM200 and RM100 respectively.

It requires participants to fabricate shopping bags out of used newspapers according to specific sizes, which will then be put through load tests to see which can withstand the greatest loads.

Participants are encouraged to be as creative as possible in their designs, yet keep within the competition rules, which include using only newspapers and glue to fabricate the bags, and ensuring the length, height and width of their bags do not exceed 20 centimetres. The bags must also have at least one handle with a minimum length of 20 centimetres and the maximum self-weight of the bags should be no more than 30 grammes.

Participants can submit only one bag each in the competition and they are required to bring their bags for load tests and judging at the CEEC booth at the Open Day anytime between 10 am and 3 pm. Old newspapers and glue will also be provided for those who would like to fabricate bags on the spot. The winners will be announced and prizes presented at the booth at 4 pm.

The load tests will involve hanging the bags by their handles on a rod and static loads continuously placed into them until the handles or the bags break. The bags that can sustain the most weight will be named the winners. Last year, Raymond Liew won the competition with a 26-gramme bag that sustained a weight of 35 kilogrammes.

The judges’ decisions will be final and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into. Curtin Sarawak reserves the rights to use participants’ names and images, including the bag designs, for publicity purposes in the future.

The Curtin Sarawak Open Day is the most anticipated annual event at the Curtin Sarawak campus. Established in 2006, it has since become an annual fixture and a key event in the university’s calendar of student recruitment and brand-building. Close to 10,000 people attended last year’s Open Day – the event’s largest crowd ever.

A wide range of attractions have been lined up for the day, including a Future Students Booth where those interested to pursue tertiary education at the university can get more information, and an Innovation Expo showcasing its faculties, graduate school and research institute.
There will also be a Charity & Community Corner participated by local NGOs; Kiddies’ Corner with special activities for children; as well as day-long stage performances, lucky draws and special event showcases.

In addition, there will be a wide range of food and beverage stalls operated by student clubs, staff, local hotels and eateries, where visitors can purchase and indulge in exotic food and beverages from around the world at very affordable prices. There will also be stalls featuring games and other activities.

A number of local businesses have also signed up to participate, promoting their goods and services at special booths for external participants.

For more information on the Newspaper Bag Design & Break Competition, contact Shivaram Suppiah at 010-376 0505 or the Curtin Sarawak Open Day Secretariat at 085-443806, or email them respectively at curtin.cec@gmail.com or corpcomm@curtin.edu.my.

Full details of Curtin Sarawak Open Day 2015 are available at openday.curtin.edu.my. One can also visit its Facebook event page (Curtin Sarawak Open Day 2015), contact its Secretariat at 085-443806, or by email corpcomm@curtin.edu.my for more details.  

Amazing engineering – last year’s winning entry by Raymond Liew withstood 35 kg of static weight in the load test.