DBS Hong Kong — Trust Your Spark: Plastic Recycling and Support for Older People
Use this as a referenceProject Background: Recycling and Care for Older People
DBS Hong Kong’s #TrustYourSpark campaign supported social enterprise V Cycle in a project linking environmental action with community needs. The story introduced the reported disposal of five million plastic bottles a day in Hong Kong alongside the difficult conditions faced by older waste collectors. Darkroom Studio was commissioned to document how support for the enterprise connected recycling work with care for people.
Storytelling Approach: From the Street to the Workplace
A documentary approach used contrast and personal accounts to explore the project’s environmental and social themes:
Visual Contrast and Change: The opening documented the demanding, often disorderly conditions of collecting waste on the street before moving into V Cycle’s organised, air-conditioned factory. The contrast made the different working environments visible and gave context to the project’s focus on dignity at work.
People-Centred Storytelling: The camera focused on the smile of Mrs Lee, an employee aged 83 at the time of the story, and founder Eric’s account of how recycling work could offer older people a sense of achievement. Words such as “Help the Earth, help people” brought the broader environmental theme into a personal, recognisable story.
Showing the Recycling Process: Close-ups followed plastic bottles being shredded and remade into furniture. The sequence made the idea of recovering value visible and explained the circular-economy process behind the project.
In Use: A Documentary Story About ESG
The documentary connected DBS’s support with a specific community initiative. Alongside explaining how V Cycle operates, it expressed the #TrustYourSpark idea through the transformation of discarded materials and the contribution of older workers to environmental action.
About the DBS #TrustYourSpark Film on Plastic Recycling and Older People
Partner: V Cycle
Year: 2024
Q&A
How did the film connect plastic recycling with care for older people?+
The story explored a social-enterprise model in which resources generated through plastic recycling could be used to support older people. Darkroom Studio connected practical information about recycling with the people involved, showing how an environmental initiative and community support could form part of one project.
How did Darkroom Studio keep an ESG film from becoming a lecture?+
We used documentary storytelling, concentrating on real interactions rather than presenting figures alone. The camera recorded exchanges between volunteers and older people, as well as the effort and detail involved in recycling. These human moments gave the environmental and social subject a more approachable form.
Why might a company produce a film about a social-impact project?+
A film can give a company’s sustainability aims a concrete setting and introduce the people involved. In this project, the community story explained an initiative beyond banking operations and showed how support for a social enterprise was intended to work in practice. It offered an accessible way to communicate responsibility through specific experiences.
- Client
- DBS Bank / DBS Foundation
- Project
- DBS Hong Kong - Trust Your Spark Campaign
- Services
- Corporate documentary, ESG video production, interviews and storytelling
- Date
- 2024-08-23
