NUST launches ‘generation green’ competition

Islamabad : National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in collaboration with PepsiCo Pakistan launched a competition for students to address the need to drive a circular economy for plastics through innovative thinking and research. Titled ‘Generation Green’, the competition on International Students’ Day and will run for two weeks for the students of NUST and inspire them to come up with dynamic innovations that can practically support a circular economy for plastics in Pakistan.

Earlier this year, Dr Rizwan Riaz, Pro-Rector (RIC) NUST and Mohammad Khosa, senior director Commercial and Corporate Affairs had signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) at NUST to collaborate on enabling a circular economy for plastics. This contest is a part of the collaboration and falls under agenda, which is cantered on sustainability and finding bold, research-based solutions to the environmental challenges we face today.

‘Generation Green’ will be open for students and the winning team and project will receive a seed fund to help kick-start, advance and scale the students’ innovative solution. Several mentorship and training opportunities will be provided to the participating teams. Speaking about the contest, Mohammad Khosa, Senior Director Commercial and Corporate Affairs said, “The student-led contest with NUST will add another layer of collaborators in PepsiCo’s global ambition to ensure plastic never becomes waste. Young people like the brilliant students at NUST hold the key to our future successes and represent the best minds of their generation. We believe in amplifying their genius to make it a better world for all.”

Khurram Shah, Director Public Policy and Government Affairs added, “The collaboration with NUST is the perfect alignment of industry and academics. It will nurture the next generation of change makers to promote positive environmental impacts with innovative concepts.” Dr. Rizwan Riaz, Pro-Rector (RIC) at NUST said, “The launch of Generation Green marks an important milestone in our partnership to develop innovative and technology-based solutions in the areas of waste reduction and sustainability. It is a great example of industry and academia joining hands to solve some of the most pressing issues of our time and utilising our brilliant young minds. We are happy to see such initiatives taking place and look forward to many more to come, paving the way for research and development to flourish in the country.”

The contest launched today will accept entries till November 30th, 2022, and will be judged by leading faculty members of NUST and leadership from the company, and other stakeholders from the burgeoning recycling industry in Pakistan.

The company has also recently launched Pakistan’s first beverage bottle made from recycled plastic. This bold step towards sustainability and cutting down on virgin plastic has been welcomed by the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC), and is in line with their “Recycle Plastics” initiative.