More than 50 participants from different parts of Ukraine and abroad, about 20 experts in the field of ecology and waste management, more than 15 projects that help save the world from the plastic. All this is the first PlasticChallengeHackathon in Ukraine, which took place on May 27-28 at Sumy National Agrarian University.
During two days, participants had the opportunity to listen to leading experts in the field of Zero Waste (NGO “Kharkiv Zero Waste”, Corporation “Ranok”, Ukrainian Institute of Marine Ecology, Upcycling social enterprise “Re-ban”, “Zero Waste Alliance Ukraine”, “GreenAge” , “Ukraine without garbage”, “Tech Startup School”, “Startup Kyiv”, “FoodBioPack”, speakers from universities in France, the Netherlands and Belarus.
The main topics of reports and discussions were the possibilities of recycling and reuse of plastic, its replacement with bioplastics, as well as the prospects for reducing the level of production of plastic waste. After the theoretical part and speeches, the participants proceeded to discuss their own ideas with mentors. The best projects received cash prizes for their own development.
PlasticChallengeHackathon 2021 is the first event of its kind in Ukraine. It is held in Sumy NAU within the project “Production and dissemination of circular economy ideas in accordance with the EU Action Plan” № 620966-EPP-1-2020-1-EN-EPPJMO-PROJECT Erasmus +, Jean Monnet, with the support of the European Neighborhood Instrument .
