Local design brand Uniplay releases Singapore’s first 3D-printed recycled collectibles

Singapore is ready to ride the wave of sustainability with its latest (and cutest) initiative — 3D-printed collectible merlions, each made of recycled plastic bottles. The brainchild of local designer art toy brand Uniplay, these collectibles are named the Fortune Merlion, and are the nation’s first limited-edition 3d-printed collectibles crafted entirely from recycled PET plastic bottles, with official design approval from the Singapore Tourism Board. Locally designed and produced, these merlions have been released to commemorate SG60 as a marker of Singapore’s pride in its efforts to go green. 

The release of this toy comes at a time where Singapore’s plastic recycling rate remains critically low. As of 2024, only 5 percent of plastic waste is recycled, with 957 million kilograms of plastic discarded annually. Because of Singapore’s space constraints, recycling is a tall order for most waste, and restrictions are gradually being tightened on the exporting of plastic waste to other countries for processing. 

In particular, much of Singapore’s recycling and waste sorting is done in Malaysia thanks to its close proximity and lower shipping costs. However, since 2018, the Malaysian government has tightened its regulations on issuing recycling permits to ensure that less waste is being illegally dumped, resulting in a decrease in the number of companies that are authorised to process and sort waste. 

Created as a way to develop sustainable collectibles, the Fortune Merlion is also a direct response to this issue, providing an example of an entirely locally-recycled product to provide that plastic recycling can be done even in Singapore itself. 

The idea for a locally made recycled souvenir came from Joe Chua, the co-founder of Unigons and Uniplay, as well as the creator of the Fortune Merlion series. While travelling across Dubai and Europe, he observed a growing market for recycled souvenirs, and set out to see if a similar product could be achieved in Singapore. 

“Singapore received over 15 million tourists last year, yet very few souvenirs carry both cultural meaning and sustainable value,” said Joe Chua. “The Fortune Merlion reflects what we believe is the next evolution in national collectibles. It represents Singapore, it is designed and made here, and it is made from what we waste.”

From start to finish, every single step of the making and printing process was under Singaporean hands, with participating businesses hailing from both the creative and sustainability sectors. Plastic bottles that would normally have been dumped were sourced from local beverage company Yeo’s. Expertise was sought from PlasticTinkers, a Singaporean startup that specialises in 3D-printing, on the mechanics of recycling the plastic bottles and assembling production methods. Finally, Greenfinity, part of the Unigons group, recycled the plastic flakes produced from shredding the bottles into a high-grade 3D-printing filament, using the resulting filament to print and produce the limited figurines. 

Uniplay’s parent company, Unigons, is no stranger to sustainability initiatives. During Mother’s Day this year, one of its incubated companies, Zero for Earth, collaborated with LOG-ON City’Super to launch the world’s first green, personalisable candle named CandleZero. In January 2025, Unigons unveiled Singapore’s largest 3D-printed Fortune Cat for Lunar New Year alongside its collaborators Yeo’s and PlasticTinkers. Crafted from over 3400 recycled Yeo’s plastic bottles, the cats were displayed in Fairprice outlets around Singapore to represent circular and sustainable initiatives for plastic recycling. 

Reception of the Fortune Merlions has been positive so far, with its first limited blind box series nearly sold out, and the final 15 units scheduled to be released exclusively to walk-in customers on 25 July at BLAXK by ActionCity. The team at Uniplays is already working on a second series called Fortune Merlion “LoveSG”, which is already available for online pre-order on their website, indicating a healthy interest and demand for sustainability amongst local collectors. 

There is still much work to be done before Singapore can become a true green society. Only some plastics can be recycled to begin with, and Uniplay’s toys currently only use PET plastic, which is most commonly used in bottles. Other types of plastic need to be recycled in industrial plants or discarded entirely, which poses a challenge when figuring out how to continue upcycling more of Singapore’s waste plastic. 

But Uniplay sees their work as an important way to engage people from different backgrounds and sectors in the process of upcycling. Raising awareness is one of their key goals, mainly done through engaging collectors and figurine hobbyists, fostering eco-consciousness while calling attention to more sustainable ways of producing collectible figurines. Together with Unigons, Uniplay hopes to build a complete circular ecosystem in Singapore for recycling plastic and waste into locally-made creative items like toys and everyday products.