Win up to $50,000 in One Young World Competition for Sustainable Development - Waste Solutions

One Young World is offering a competition for participants from all around the word to find solutions to waste from plastic-based packaging material is an increasing problem with negative impact on our environment, society, human health and the global economy.

About the solution:

• Find alternative solutions for waste streams from the packaging industry or after-use of packaging material to avoid landfilling or ocean leakage.
• Demonstrate how current retail, collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure can be adapted to generate raw materials of inherent value.
• Demonstrate how consumers can be incentivised to reduce the consumption of single use packaging items.
• Demonstrate how cross-industry collaboration can make reuse/recycling mechanisms efficient and scalable.
• Demonstrate solutions to address post-harvest losses, from improper handling and transportation to lack of proper storage and packaging solutions.
• How can the shelf life be extended while simultaneously minimizing the environmental impacts of the packaging itself?
• This requires not only an adaptation of processes, raw material selection/preparation and waste prevention, but also the cooperation on all levels involved, including government, industry, retail, and end consumer. 
• The challenge is working towards a zero waste future, with new packaging and logistical solutions to address waste in the supply chain and/or elimination or reuse of waste streams to create circular solutions.  

Eligibility Criteria:

1. Youth-led: Founded by a person aged 18 – 30.
2. Focused: Well-structured time horizon, identified key stakeholders and beneficiaries, and proposed outcomes that are reasonable and well thought out.
3. Proven: Readily available, in or past implementation phase.
4. Impactful: Solutions must have a positive social impact, for example generating employment, or developing skills.
5. Measurable: Impacts of solutions must have been adequately measured and/or be measurable.
6. Financially viable: Must be able to achieve efficiency and to survive independently through the resources they generate and/or the investments and donations they attract.
7. Scalable: Potential to perform as well or better after expanding in scope or size and/or being transported to other regions

Benefits:

The winning solution will receive

• A US$50,000 grant from Mondi Group
• 12 months of mentorship from a team of Standard Chartered professionals. 
• The mentorship team will work to accelerate your solution based on the needs of your initiative or organization, such as:

1. Business strategy
2. Best practices for data collection
3. Monitoring and evaluation
4. Product design

About:

One Young World was founded in 2009 by David Jones and Kate Robertson. We are a UK-based not-for-profit that gathers together the brightest young people from around the world, empowering them to make lasting connections to create positive change.

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