Trash is the new cash

IF YOU consider yourself an eco-warrior because you recycle plastic bottles, drink from stainless steel reusable straws and channel your inner Marie Kondo, you haven't met Arthur Huang. The Taiwan native is the founder of Miniwiz, a firm dedicated to taking consumer trash and industrial waste and creating innovative new materials that can used for everything from outfitting store interiors and yarn to spin fabric for apparel. Even he himself wears clothes made from such material.

Mr Huang is one of a growing group of eco-preneurs who have succeeded in turning waste into commercial businesses. In Friday's edition of Weekend magazine, we spotlight him and other Singapore-based entrepreneurs who turn leftover orange peels and other vegetable waste into useable resources such as cleaning products and animal feed; and rescues "ugly" food like misshapen fruit and vegetables and sells them at discounted prices. For them, trash is the new currency.

From sustainability to skincare, we speak to entrepreneur Sabrina Tan, who left her high-flying marketing job to plunge into the world of customised skincare products. In 10 years, she has grown Skin Inc into one of the most successful Singapore-born beauty companies.

We also get a comprehensive look at the new Culina at COMO Dempsey, which is part of the sprawling dining and lifestyle COMO Dempsey complex which made its debut at Tanglin Village three years ago. The gourmet market and a soon-to-open children's section completes COMO's anchor presence in this hipster enclave which is in the midst of rejuvenation.

Elsewhere, we look at new additions to add to your home decor; take a close up look at a massive book on Tibetan murals and check out a new documentary about how Silicon Valley fraudster Elizabeth Holmes fooled some of biggest names in business with her biotech startup Theranos.