The event, co-hosted by Victoria University of Wellington and the Wellington City Council, brought together Wellington locals, business experts, and academics to solve three of the capital’s biggest environmental challenges: how to transform waste in resources, how to create a sustainable food network, and how to reduce air transport emissions.
The attendees banded together in teams to come up with business solutions for these challenges and win prizes from sponsors Viclink, Wellington City Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council, Ministry for the Environment, Callaghan Innovation, BNZ, Akina, Limber, Motif, and Creative HQ.
The overall winner from this year’s event was Reusabowl, whose idea was to eliminate 30 tonnes of plastic waste in Wellington each year by swapping out single-use plastic lunch trays with stainless steel bowls that could be returned to a collection point for sterilisation and re-use.
“Plastic is awful,” says Sarah Booher, a member of the winning team who was inspired after seeing the amount of plastic produced by “curry Friday” at her workplace. “In addition to its negative environmental effects, plastic has many chemical additives that adversely affect human health. Our whole team was committed to doing something that would reduce its use as food containers.”
Climathon judge and WCC Councillor Iona Pannett says the team’s idea deserved to win because “it actually takes plastic waste out of the system,” rather than recycling existing plastics. “We think businesses and the public across Wellington will be thrilled about this idea”
The other major prize was a spot in Victoria University of Wellington’s summer entrepreneurship accelerator— the Victoria Entrepreneur Bootcamp—valued at $7,500. This was awarded to team Happy Earth, whose big idea involved developing a gaming app that shows players the direct effect of their actions on the environment.
Emily Sullivan, Entrepreneurship Manager at Viclink, sponsor and co-organiser of the event, says:
“With an issue as pressing as climate change, we simply can’t afford to be passive. Climathon gives cities like Wellington the opportunity to take action—to take our future into our own hands and implement grassroots solutions that make Wellingtonians feel empowered along the way.”
Climathon Wellington is part of a 24-hour international challenge organised by Climate KIC aimed at reducing carbon emissions and building resilience to climate change. This challenge, running for its fourth year, took place in 113 cities around the world.
For more information please contact Emily Sullivan on emily.sullivan@viclink.co.nz or 022 563 9604 or visit www.climathon.nz