Youth hackathon brings together young innovators from South Asia to tackle plastic pollution

Sri Lankan, Indian and Bhutanese teams emerge overall winners

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A team of science undergraduates in Sri Lanka became overall winners of a South Asian youth hackathon to come up with innovative solutions to tackle the global crisis of plastic pollution.

The winners designed a biodegradable fish storage box as an alternative to Styrofoam-based boxes widely used in fisheries. The team, calling itself ‘Myco Box by White Root’, instead proposes to use mycelium, a rootlike structure found in fungus.

Second place was won by an Indian youth team called ‘Green Alchemy’ who came up with an enzyme-based plastic biodegradation innovation. Coming third was the ‘Eco Pet’ team from Bhutan, who proposed a gamification platform linked to a smartphone app to promote consumer education for reducing household waste.