It’s time for businesses to go beyond sustainability with the first Regenerative Festival

On the morning of 25th July, DBS Bank held the first Regenerative Festival. The bank is a co-founding member of the National Sustainable Procurement Roundtable, which was established to support Singapore companies with sustainable procurement. 

This event had two primary goals, to connect procurement managers from the National Sustainable Procurement Roundtable with sustainable enterprises and SMEs, and increase awareness of regenerative procurement.

Beyond sustainability

Regenerative procurement is still a nascent idea in Singapore, with sustainability being the larger priority. Fortunately, the two are not in competition, and instead work together. Companies that focus on sustainability measures reduce their negative impact on the environment, often with a goal to hit net zero operations.

On the other hand, regenerative processes focus on increasing the positive impact that businesses have on the environment — on restoring it. Companies that adopt regenerative measures refine their business model to actively replenish natural resources and strengthen communities.

DBS Bank’s Regenerative Festival specifically focuses on regenerative procurement, in other words, regenerative models for acquiring necessary supplies for businesses.

More about regenerative processes

The festival was attended by over 350 participants. The itinerary of the half day event included a brief sharing on the topic, which acted as a preamble to the panel discussion on regenerative procurement and business practices. 

Thomas Milburn, Senior Vice President of DBS Chief Sustainability Office moderated the panel. Speakers on the panel represented various interesting companies in the sustainability sector, including Karen Cheah, the Founder and CEO of local start-up, Alterpacks, that uses food by-products to create biodegradable packaging; and Saurabh Mangla, the Founder of ipse ipsa ipsum, a luxury sustainable homewares and furniture business. 

They shared more about going beyond sustainability and actively contributing back to the environment. 

More about attendees

After the panel discussion, the event concluded with a showcase of vendors offering regenerative products. These products spanned food and catering, to building materials, to electronics. 

One vendor of note is Mycotechlab (MYCL), a technology startup supported by the DBS Foundation under their Business for Impact initiative. MYCL uses mycelium, the thread-like part of mushrooms, to create Mylea, a textile that resembles leather. Traditional leather production results in 355.5kg of carbon dioxide emissions, whereas Mylea only produces 0.7kg. 

Products made from Mylea are biodegradable, and can be used for composting at the end of its shelf life, thus removing it from the waste cycle and literally returning it to the earth.

Beyond the event

Since many of these companies produce items primarily for businesses, instead of consumers, the Regenerative Festival was also attended by procurement managers from DBS’ business and support units who could engage directly with these businesses.

“At DBS, we are developing a regenerative roadmap to rethink the design of all bank branches and offices, ensuring they are built to contribute positively to the environment,” said Prescott Gaylord, Head of Sustainability of DBS, Corporate Real Estate Strategy and Administration.

“Regenerative sourcing is an untapped opportunity for companies in Singapore to lower their carbon footprint, and through our first Regenerative Festival, we hope to raise greater awareness and socialise procurement managers from DBS and the community to this new movement.”