The Institute of Earth Systems, in collaboration with the Edward de Bono Institute for Creative Thinking and Innovation, recently organised a hackathon event for sixth form students. The hackathon was sponsored by WasteServ. The 2-day “What the Hack? Tackling Food Waste” event was held on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 April, as part of World Creativity and Innovation Week.
Food waste is recognised as a major sustainability issue, with the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimating that a third of all food produced globally is lost or wasted. In view of this, target 12.3 of Sustainable Development Goal 12 seeks to halve food waste and reduce food losses by 2030.
Participating teams were set the challenge of formulating innovative ideas for tackling food waste locally. After being given background information on food waste issues and Malta’s waste management challenges, students were also guided through a selection of idea generation methods. With the support of a team of mentors, participants then developed varied proposals which they pitched to a judging panel.
The winning team from St. Aloysius College (Matthew Camilleri, Izaak Scicluna and Luca Fenech) proposed PrepPal, a meal planning and preparation app for the local market intended to reduce food loss and wastage. The second-placed team from Junior College Malta (Elisa Lia, Irina Camilleri, Julia Camilleri) formulated a proposal for cooking lessons for children and adults, intended to foster better food management skills and awareness of ways to use potentially avoidable food waste. The top two-placed teams were awarded vouchers of €1000 and €500, respectively.
Well done Elisa, Irina and Julia!