BACOLOD, PHILIPPINES — Social entrepreneurs, inventors, and innovators are invited to pitch their business ideas to reduce single-use and non-biodegradable waste at the Wala Usik Challenge: A Circular Economy Hackathon.
Teams with the most innovative concepts will each receive a Php 100,000 prize, and mentoring from industry and sustainability experts in a 3-month incubation program to further firm up their business plans and make their ideas operational.
The hackathon started accepting applications on Earth Day 2021, searching for fifteen (15) teams to “hack Wala Usik” and pitch innovative, early-stage concepts of circular products, packaging, and systems. Examples of circular ideas are: products made of native, local and naturally compostable materials, alternative packaging (e.g. bioplastics, edible wraps), refilling or reuse business models, voluntary deposit return schemes, and even apps or web-based platforms.
Circular business ideas should have three priorities: (1) design out waste and pollution, (2) keep materials in use and (3) regenerate natural resources. This circular design is expressed in the Hiligaynon/Bisaya phrase ‘Wala Usik,’ which means ‘nothing is wasted’ and ecosystems are thriving.
Deadline of applications is on 23 July 2021, and the 4-day virtual event leading up to the pitch is on 13-16 August 2021. Complete details, eligibility requirements, criteria for selection, and the online application form, is available at www.prrcf.org/walausikchallenge.
This hackathon is organized by the Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation, Inc. (PRRCFI) for the ‘Rethinking Plastics – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter’ project, co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ and Expertise France.
Hosted in the cities of Bacolod and Talisay in the Philippines, the virtual events and the incubation program are in collaboration with the Design Thinking Factory, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF), Association of Negros Producers (ANP), Circulo, Save Philippine Seas, and the Carlos Hilado Memorial State College-DTI Negros Occidental Center for DELIGHT (Design, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Innovation, Good Ideas, Human Development and Technology Transfer).
The ‘Rethinking Plastics Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter’ project supports a transition towards a circular economy for plastics in seven countries in East and South East Asia to contribute to a significant reduction of marine litter. The project works, amongst others, in the areas of plastic waste management, sustainable consumption and production of plastics as well as the reduction of litter from sea-based sources to reduce plastic waste and its leakage into the sea.
It is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ and Expertise France in China, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. More information can be found at: https://beatplasticpollution.eu/rethinking-plastics/
