- Winning concepts highlight innovative solutions designed to
solve challenges within the plastics value chain
BATESVILLE, Ind., ATLANTA, Ga., and OAKLAND, Calif., April 27,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE: HI),
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), and Net Impact announced the 2023
winners of the Circular Plastics Case Competition. The Circular
Plastics Case Competition was created with the goal of bringing
together the next generation of innovators to rethink the
challenges the plastics value chain faces from creation to
collection.
"Plastics remain indispensable to our economy and have a place
in our future, so it is critical to remain focused on what can be
done to advance sustainability within the plastics value chain.
Because our equipment is used by the plastics and recycling
industries, we can play an active role in being part of the
solution," said Kim Ryan, President
and CEO of Hillenbrand. "With sustainability in mind, we created
this competition to encourage the next generation to think outside
the box and develop solutions that support a circular plastics
economy. I am amazed by the innovation and ingenuity of the
participants, and I am inspired to see so many individuals take
action to help solve one of today's most pressing challenges."
In its inaugural year, the competition drew more than 50
submissions and contestants from 10 different countries across the
globe, representing teams composed of undergraduate students,
graduate students, and professionals. Participants were challenged
to design solutions that would help keep plastics in the economy
and out of the environment. Finalists presented their concept to
industry leaders from Hillenbrand, The Coca-Cola Company, and The
Recycling Partnership.
The 2023 Circular Plastics Case Competition winners
are:
- The First Place Team winning the $10,000 prize is Ashaya, an Indian-based startup
that is turning post-consumer multi-layer plastic (MLP) typically
found in packets of chips, into new products, starting with
recycled sunglasses. The startup aims to increase the value of
waste through technological and scientific innovations in recycling
and then fairly redistribute that value to stakeholders in the
supply chain, especially those who are the poorest: waste-pickers,
their website states. Ashaya estimates that their lab has scaled to
process more than 2,500 kilograms of plastic waste annually.
- The Second Place Team winning the $2,000 prize is the Tanzanian-based startup
Vendify. Vendify uses solar-powered vending stations in rural
Tanzania to offer in-demand
consumer products such as cooking oil and liquid soap in exchange
for the plastic waste that rural local waste-pickers collect from
the environment. The active business estimates it will be able to
divert more than 1,000 kilograms of plastic waste from landfills
annually after scaling.
- The Third Place Team winning the $1,000 prize is Ecovend, an early-stage business
concept conceived from a group of MBA students at ESADE Business
School in Barcelona, Spain. The
business model would employ vending machines in grocery stores
across Spain to eliminate the
unrecyclable toilet paper plastic packaging, diverting and
estimated 47 million kilograms of plastic from going into the
landfill every year.
"We were delighted and proud to be able to join Hillenbrand and
Net Impact in supporting this global initiative, as its goals
closely align with our World Without Waste sustainable packaging
ambitions," said Kurt Ritter, VP of
Sustainability, The Coca-Cola Company North America. "To address
the challenges within the plastics value chain, it is crucial that
we engage all stakeholders in the conversation, including and
especially the young leaders in the communities we serve."
"The response we received to the Circular Plastics Case
Competition in its first year was some of the highest interest our
organization has ever seen," said Karen
Johns, CEO, GOOD Institute, home to Net Impact. "Our
partnership with Hillenbrand and The Coca-Cola Company serves as a
model for how businesses and non-profits can partner together to
activate emerging leaders, engage the next generation, accelerate
DEI, and create solutions for the betterment of society."
Hillenbrand plans to continue the partnership with Net Impact to
spur innovation and interest in a circular economy with the next
generation. For organizations interested in partnering with
Hillenbrand and Net Impact to tackle critical sustainability issues
in the plastic industry, please contact Hilary Manzo, Senior Program Manager at Net
Impact, at hmanzo@netimpact.org.
Learn more about the winning submissions on Net Impact's
website.
About Hillenbrand
Hillenbrand (NYSE: HI) is a global industrial company that
provides highly-engineered, mission-critical processing equipment
and solutions to customers in over 100 countries around the world.
Our portfolio is composed of leading industrial brands that serve
large, attractive end markets, including durable plastics, food,
and recycling. Guided by our Purpose — Shape What Matters For
Tomorrow™ — we pursue excellence, collaboration, and innovation to
consistently shape solutions that best serve our associates,
customers, communities, and other stakeholders. To learn more,
visit: www.Hillenbrand.com.
About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a total beverage company
with products sold in more than 200 countries and territories. Our
company's purpose is to refresh the world and make a difference. We
sell multiple billion-dollar brands across several beverage
categories worldwide. Our portfolio of sparkling soft drink brands
includes Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta. Our water, sports, coffee and
tea brands include Dasani, smartwater, vitaminwater, Topo Chico, BODYARMOR, Powerade, Costa,
Georgia, Gold Peak and Ayataka.
Our juice, value-added dairy and plant-based beverage brands
include Minute Maid, Simply, innocent, Del
Valle, fairlife and AdeS. We're constantly transforming our
portfolio, from reducing sugar in our drinks to bringing innovative
new products to market. We seek to positively impact people's
lives, communities and the planet through water replenishment,
packaging recycling, sustainable sourcing practices and carbon
emissions reductions across our value chain. Together with our
bottling partners, we employ more than 700,000 people, helping
bring economic opportunity to local communities worldwide. Learn
more at www.coca-colacompany.com and follow us
on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
About GOOD Institute
GOOD Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established
through the social impact alliance of Net Impact, GOOD Worldwide
and Upworthy, addresses important issues, drives social action
and reimagines the possibilities for our shared future by charting
a new contract between business and society to meet today's
evolving challenges with regenerative solutions. The Institute is
home to Net Impact and Leaps.org. GOOD Institute will:
- mobilize forces for good in business and community
- activate engaged generations of young business leaders who
prioritize good as a core business value
- present science and fact-based information to the public,
seeking to re-establish a common set of facts to inform our
discourse
- build stronger relationships between the private and nonprofit
sectors that enable collaboration and the infusion of
purpose-driven decision making across both
About Net Impact
Over 30 years Net Impact has built a diverse community in 40+
countries committed to using business to advance social and
environmental action. Net Impact mobilizes its global community of
more than 100,000 emergent change agents to leverage their careers
to drive transformational environmental and social change. Through
a strategic set of initiatives aimed to engage and benefit its core
stakeholders, Net Impact is committed to advancing climate action
and building the capacity of the next generation of workforce
members. Visit www.netimpact.org.
About The Recycling Partnership
At The Recycling Partnership, we are solving for circularity. As
a mission-driven NGO, we are committed to advancing a circular
economy by building a better recycling system. We mobilize people,
data, and solutions across the value chain to reduce waste and our
impact on the environment while also unlocking economic benefits.
We work on the ground with thousands of communities to transform
underperforming recycling programs; we partner with companies to
achieve packaging circularity, increase access to recycled
materials, and meet sustainability commitments; and we work with
government to develop policy solutions to address the systemic
needs of our residential recycling system and advance a circular
economy. We foster public-private partnerships and drive positive
change at every step of the recycling and circularity process.
Since 2014, we have diverted 770 million pounds of new recyclables
from landfills, avoided more than 670,000 metric tons of greenhouse
gases, and driven significant reductions in targeted contamination
rates. Learn more at recyclingpartnership.org.
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SOURCE Hillenbrand, Inc.