Asia & the Pacific 2019 Finalists

Agustina Iskandar

Combattre les déchets sur les îles

Indonesia produces 170,000 tonnes of waste per day and 69 percent ends up in landfill or in the rivers and ocean surrounding our islands. Only 31 percent of this waste is managed and recycled. After successfully leading World Clean-up Day in Indonesia in 2018, which attracted 7.6 million volunteers through a public selection process - working with 300 students, community managers, business people and government representatives to make changes in waste regulations and start awareness campaigns - I founded the 10 islands project. If we can focus on making a positive change in 10 islands, then we can use our experience to help other islands. We aim to gather ideas, opinions from local people, community and government, to work together on a grassroots, bottom-up strategy to tackle waste.

Amit Kumar Singh

Mobile air filtration

Imagine if one invention could convert automobiles from polluters into air purification devices. Our Pariyayantra Air Filtration System purifies air as a vehicle moves, without consuming any power. A pilot project sponsored by the Government of India is currently in progress and the results are highly encouraging. Our system does not consume any electricity like other air purifiers, and is mounted on the roof of the vehicle. When mounted on buses, it works the same as six indoor air purifiers. It occupies little space on the bus rooftop, with a weight of 18 kilograms, and does not add any extra load on the vehicle engine even while running. The device is designed to match the aesthetics of the vehicle, and any moving vehicle fitted with it will become an air purifier too. The filters are biodegradable and have already been installed in 30 buses, collecting 1.5 kilograms of dust in just 10 days, with 77 percent of the particles captured being smaller than 10 microns.

Justaquiu Fabiano Lasi

Ecotourism for marine biodiversity

Ecotourism as a way of preserving marine biodiversity and promoting sustainable, socially responsible businesses in my hometown in Timor-Leste. Fast growing coastal communities work as both farmers and fisherman. Men fish from canoes, while women and children collect crabs, mollusks and sea urchins by the seashore. Everyone helps with the cultivation of corn and vegetables in small plots of family owned land, and the harvest cycle is important to our traditional religion. But at sea it is harder for fisherman to fill their nets due to destruction of coral reefs where fish breed and unrestricted spear-guns hunting. Though technically protected under Timor-Leste law, the beautiful sea turtle is also sometimes hunted, and their eggs dug up. Our Ecotourism project will preserve marine biodiversity and promote sustainable, socially responsible business models, providing local communities with training and capacity building.

Lathika Chandra Mouli

Blockchain-based energy accounting

Electric vehicles charging can lead to increased fossil fuel-based energy generation by spiking power demand. In Thailand, for example, the majority of electricity is generated from hydropower, oil, and gas sources. EV in Thailand can cut a driver’s carbon footprint by 70 percent compared to a gasoline vehicle, and a further 25 percent through the use of solar-powered EV charging stations. Evergo is a blockchain-based system which increases proliferation of solar-powered EV charging stations. It provides an economic incentive for homeowners to invest in solar solutions as they can get an extra source of income by sharing their excess generation. The system tracks energy trading and diversifies the energy mix for charging solutions, using blockchain to ensure transparent and secure energy accounting and connecting excess solar generation from roofs of 'prosumers' to EV chargers.

Louise Mabulo

Cacao agroforestry

The Farm and Culinary Lounge established The Cacao Project, which aims to combat deforestation by reviving barren lands through tree planting, creating economic forests and nurseries, promoting fair trade and reforestation, while empowering farmers with higher incomes. This cultivates resilient and climate-smart livelihoods, positioning farmers for sustainable success in San Fernando, Camarines Sur, in the Philippines.

Mohsen Gul

Youth-driven sustainability leadership

Green Box is a youth-driven engagement lab nurturing sustainability leadership in Pakistan. We are developing the ‘Sustainable Impact Partners Program’ to engage tertiary level students across Pakistan to receive 100 credit hours of training on sustainability leadership skills, peer mentorship and access to exclusive digital simulations based ‘Footprint©’ curriculum. They are encouraged to co-develop evidence-based, innovative projects addressing local environmental sustainability challenges. In the first annual cohort, we are working on projects ranging from developing low-cost enzyme impregnated strips to assess local water contamination levels, conducting research on climate change impacts on modern slavery incidence, developing eco-friendly office stationary using community waste, to crowdsourcing real-time data for monitoring environmental impacts of local systems and holding policymakers accountable for their actions.

Nitish Singh

Reusable paper

Our gecko- inspired reusable paper can be used for more than 100 cycles of writing or printing followed by erasing with no change in quality, unveiling a great potential to reduce inefficient use of conventional paper. The surface allows one to write on it using conventional pens, ball-point, sketch pen and marker pen, and even conventional laser jet and inkjet printers. The ink can be removed by wiping with a wet cloth and the paper is all set to be used again. Manufacturing paper requires huge quantities of water: ~5 litres of fresh water for making only 1 A4 sheet. 5,000 hectares of forest is cut down every day to fulfil our requirements of paper.By 2020, global production of A4 sheets is expected to exceed 25 trillion per year, demanding 60 million hectares of forest, equivalent to the area of France, to be destroyed. Our novel rewritable and reprintable surface is made of environmentally benign and degradable material, unlike other paper-replacements till date, possessing serious environmental threat.

Ritu Malhotra

Spit to fertilizer

Our enterprise addresses growing concerns around the sanitation issues of spitting in public and liquid waste. Our innovative solution curbs the menace of paan or tobacco spitting and the rising deaths due to communicable diseases like Tuberculosis (TB) and Swine Flu. Similarly, organic liquid waste is mostly disposed of in sewage or dumped in open areas, causing air, land and water pollution. We provide the world's first spit pack for TB, Swine flu patients and Paan Consumers and organic liquid disposal bin. It solidifies spit, liquid or vomit and converts it into hybrid fertiliser in 10 seconds, made up of food grade and Environmental Protection Agency verified biodegradable material. The world's first spit pack comes in three sizes: a pocket pack for individuals; the mobile pack for cars, buses etc. and a commercial pack for public places which can take in 2500-2800 spits. We have already gauged demand in hospitals, hotels, corporates, public institutions and individuals. We are converting waste to value. We are providing these organic hybrid fertilisers to farmers for agricultural use at a cost of 4Rs/kg helping increase seed sprouting and seeding development.

Sonika Manandhar

Green mobility for women

Green Energy Mobility aims to tackle the worst air quality in South Asia in Nepal, and make public transportation a quality alternative to private vehicles - especially for women safa-tempos (small busses) drivers. The vision is to help women own and upgrade their electric vehicles through low-interest financing from commercial banks.

Tarun Bothra

Biodegradable sanitary products

Saathi Pads has developed 100 percent biodegradable and compostable sanitary pads for women, made from banana fiber - one of the most absorbent natural fibers and abundant in India. Unlike wood pulp or cotton, it is an agricultural by-product and does not require additional land usage. Our all-natural pads are comfortable, and do not contain bleach or chemicals to minimize skin irritation and release of toxins into the environment upon disposal. They degrade within 6 months of disposal, 1200 times faster than conventional pads, eliminating the need for incineration. We eliminate each woman disposes of 60 kilograms of pad waste in her lifetime. We have already saved 10 metric tons of plastic waste and project that, by 2023, Saathi will reduce plastic waste by 9,212 metric tons. In rural communities, 1 in 6 women miss about a month of work each year due to lack of access to modern feminine hygiene products. Saathi has already reached more than 6000 women and will increase access to pads for 1.5 million women by 2023.