Student solution for building waste awarded at Sustainathon
Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington student and entrepreneur Shuari Naidoo and her friend Balpreet Kaur from Waikato University have won one of five prizes in the inaugural Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) Sustainathon. The pair won the Fletcher Building challenge titled ‘Waste: Gone’ with their idea, an app called Unwasteable.
The University participated as an academic partner alongside eight other universities in the first TCS Sustainathon, a problem-solving competition that attracted 260 entries from tertiary students across Australia and New Zealand.
Unwasteable is a B2B and B2C digital app designed to prompt the reuse and reselling of construction waste and packaging waste from commercial construction companies. Unwasteable will sell construction waste that consists of polystyrene, cardboard packaging, wooden pallets, and paper.
Shuari explains: “Unwasteable offers a way for vendors like construction companies, builders, sub-contractors, and manufacturers to sell their construction waste on an app and website to buyers, like other businesses or individuals. This promotes sustainability rather than disposing of recycled commercial construction waste. Unwasteable connects vendors of construction waste to sellers.
The Sustainathon is a problem-solving competition aiming to create sustainability-led solutions for organisations, helping students to be the difference in the journey towards a better world. Five teams won titles for challenges set by five challenge partners: Fletcher Building, Australian Institute of Company Directors, Virgin Australia, ASB, and Ethan Indigenous. The competition was held in regions across the world throughout 2022 and is judged by the challenge partners themselves.
Gerald McKenzie, GM Innovation and Sustainability at Fletcher Building noted, Approximately 40 percent of world embodied carbon and energy use is associated with our built environment. It's imperative to address waste and carbon emissions in the building industry. Innovation is critical to how lead that change.” Mr Mackenzie acknowledged Shuari and Balpreet’s work, saying “they have proposed an interesting circular business model for building materials, embracing change and community."
Jane Hodgen, Head of Inclusion, Diversity and Leadership Development at TCS, stated that we ought to consider “how we change our behaviour as adults and children, to ensure we take what we need and future generations get what they need”.
The Sustainathon is an opportunity to look at this further. Shuari is also the director of Moraka Menstrual Cups, and works within the Atom—Te Kahu o Te Ao innovation space.