Eighty-five climate-friendly innovations have qualified for the #NoWasteChallenge competition finals announced by What Design Can Do (WDCD).
The global-design competition by WDCD and IKEA Foundation, in partnership with Kenya Climate Innovation Centre (KCIC), was launched earlier this year to seek out designers and innovators worldwide to create and find innovations that offer a solution to the massive issue of waste. As a result, the #NoWasteChallenge competition received a record-breaking 1409 entries worldwide.
Out of the 1409 entries, 85 innovations stood out to the WDCD selection committee based on the criteria set for the competition. “Our selection committee identified the most promising 85 projects which exceeded expectations across four criteria: impact, creativity & design, feasibility, and scalability. Together, the nominees’ ideas add up to an image of a changing world — one where we have both improved existing practices and implemented completely new alternatives,” said Richard van der Laken, founder of WDCD.
Waste management has been a real climate issue globally. Every year, the world generates more than two billion tonnes of trash. Globally, the waste generated per person in a day averages 0.74 kilograms but ranges wildly. Though high-income countries only account for 16 percent of the world’s population, they generate about 34 percent, or 683 million tonnes, of the world’s waste.
In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, the amount of waste generated amounts to approximately 62 million tons per year, amounting to a footprint of about 0.65kg per person per day. This is according to the World Bank (2018). However, as waste keeps piling up on dumpsites and landfills, more designers and innovators are coming up with different innovative ideas of recycling waste and solutions to help curb waste management.
As a result, WDCD and the IKEA Foundation set up the #NoWasteChallenge to create a bigger platform for designers and innovators looking to mitigate climate change to share their projects and innovations on a global scale.
“At What Design Can Do, we believe every single entry has the potential to make a difference. That is why — in addition to strategically compiling the shortlist — the selection committee also provided personalised feedback to projects along the way. After all, the best way to tackle climate change is through diverse solutions from many approaches and that is what we have seen in this Challenge,” says Richard.
For the upcoming month and a half, the 85 innovations will refine their projects and be reviewed by WDCDs international jury, and after that, on July 15th, 16 winning projects will be announced. In addition, they will be launched into a full-steam-ahead development programme co-created by Impact Hub.
KCIC Group congratulates all the eighty-five innovations qualified for the #NoWasteChallenge and wishes them all the best. They continue to create climate-friendly innovations that help make the world a better place.
To get to know the shortlisted innovations, kindly click here: #NoWasteChallenge global nominees.
