Plasticcycle, the social entrepreneurship project of the John Keells Group, launched “Bin-novate 2022” in April this year, to commemorate the World Creativity and Innovation Day. The concept of the competition was to encourage the public, to submit design ideas for a bin to be placed in the coastal areas of Sri Lanka to collect recyclable plastic waste.
The competition was held in 3 age categories, including an 8–13-year category to encourage creativity and innovation from a young age, whilst also acting as a reminder of the environmental impacts of plastic pollution. The design criteria included that the bin be made from a sustainable material that can withstand beach conditions and additional points were awarded to any designs that included upcycled or recycled materials. In addition to the cash prizes, the winners will also receive due credit should the design be used by Plasticcycle to produce bins.
Speaking on Bin-novate, Nisreen Rehmanjee – Executive Vice President John Keells Group & Head of Corporate Finance, Group Tax and Social Entrepreneurship Project, said that “at Plasticcycle we are constantly looking at ways to engage with the public to create a mindset change towards consciously reducing our plastic footprint. Generating new and creative ideas to improve what we do through competitions like this, helps us not only to engage with our community to encourage responsible disposal of plastic waste, but also to showcase talent and innovation. Supporting responsible disposal is one of the pillars we focus on, and we are working towards expanding on our existing plastic waste collection bin network of over 250 bins, with bins that can withstand the conditions along the coast”
The designs were evaluated by idea therapist Lee Bazalgette, chartered architect Ruchira Wickramasinghe and Nisreen Rehmanjee. The winners, Aththiligoda Gamage Pumidu Kalhan (8-13 years | category), Saveen Uvishka Serasinghe (14-19 years | category) and Nabila Nushin Imtiaz (20 years and above category) were presented their prizes on 31st of July 2022.
Plasticcycle is the social entrepreneurship project of John Keells Holdings (PLC), Sri Lanka’s premier diversified company on the Colombo Stock Exchange, operating over 70 companies in 7 diverse industry sectors, providing employment to over 14,000 persons. The company has been ranked as Sri Lanka’s ‘Most Respected Entity’ for 17 Years by LMD Magazine and ranked first in the Transparency in Corporate Reporting Assessment by Transparency International Sri Lanka for 2 consecutive years. Whilst being a full member of the World Economic Forum and a Participant of the UN Global Compact, JKH drives its CSR vision of “Empowering the Nation for Tomorrow” through the John Keells Foundation and through the social entrepreneurship initiative, ‘Plasticcycle’, which is a catalyst in significantly reducing plastic pollution in Sri Lanka