Hackathon teams create solutions to plastic waste
ABOITIZ Construction Inc. (Aboitiz Construction) said it hoped to adopt some of the technologies and ideas presented during the Plastic 3R Hacks Philippines, a nationwide hackathon organized to harness solutions to address the plastic waste problem in the country.
A total of 10 teams nationwide presented their innovative solutions to solve plastic problems.
All teams proposed the use of technology that involves mobile applications, waste management equipment and monitoring tools.
Team STP was named the grand winner. It presented the WeGarden project, an offline-first, technology-enabled and hydroponics community garden built to help Legazpi City, Albay curb marine plastic litter by detecting, collecting, and repurposing plastics into vertical farms for the community’s consumption and profit.
The winning team received P50,000 in cash and their project got the chance to be adopted by various organizations and local government units.
Antonio Peñalver, executive director of Aboitiz Construction, served as one of the judges during the final demonstration day on June 8, 2021.
“Sustainability is at the heart of everything that we do in Aboitiz Construction. Our support in this endeavor is a testament to our efforts to contribute to sustainability particularly on waste management,” he said.
“We hope to adopt some of the ideas in this hackathon and implement more environment-related projects in the communities where we are as a business,” he added.
As an expert in the construction industry, his ideas and experience helped determine the most innovative and impactful waste management proposal that has the potential to address environmental problems.
Another sponsor of the hackathon was Aboitiz Group’s financial arm, Unionbank of the Philippines.
Plastic 3R Hacks PH was organized by Redwizard, in collaboration with the Healthy Oceans and Clean Cities Initiative, a project implemented by United Nations-Habitat Philippines. It aims to enable local governments and communities in the Philippines to reduce marine plastic pollution.
Meanwhile, Aboitiz Construction is implementing a Scrap to Crop and Waste Management project in chosen communities to support the food sustainability and waste management efforts of various local government units.
This project includes the donation of seedlings and waste management materials and capacity building to raise awareness on pressing environmental concerns. (PR)