The third edition of the Circular Plastics Challenge is now open for entries. The competition aims to change young people’s perception of the plastic industry and help attract new talent to an ageing industry. This year, solutions should leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to maximise circularity in the plastics value chain.
Organised by non-profit Net Impact in partnership with Hillenbrand Inc and The Coca-Cola Company, the competition encourages students and emerging business professionals to rethink the plastics value chain by designing innovative solutions that help keep plastics in the economy and out of the environment.
Final submissions are due in April, and in June, five finalist teams will present their concepts virtually to a panel of judges that includes plastics industry and sustainability leaders. The first-place team will be awarded $5,000, followed by $2,500 for second place and $1,000 for third place.
"We love this program because it enables our responsible business-oriented community to think critically about how to leverage the latest technology like AI for sustainable applications in the corporate context,” said Karen Johns, CEO of Net Impact. “With so much growth around artificial intelligence, this will be a wonderful opportunity for our community to learn and explore this topic in tangible terms."
Net Impact and Hillenbrand developed the Circular Plastics Challenge concept in 2022 and the first competition was held in 2023. In 2024, finalists presented concepts during a virtual showcase at NPE2024. In the programme’s first two years, teams representing dozens of countries around the world have submitted more than 115 proposals.
In the competition’s inaugural year, participants were challenged to design solutions to keep plastics in the economy and out of the environment by using upstream innovation to reduce plastic leakage. The winning team was Ashaya, an India-based startup that is turning post-consumer multi-layer plastics, typically found in packets of chips, into new products such as recycled sunglasses.
More information about the Circular Plastics Challenge, including participant applications and previous winners, can be found here.