There are all kinds of waste – Plastic waste, Domestic Waste, Chemical waste, Solid waste, Bio degradable and non-biodegradable waste and all of it is right in front of us. No wonder that during Solve for Tomorrow roadshows, some of the most discussed and relevant topics among GenZ were issues related to waste management.

Team Planeteers

Riya, Akshita and Nikita

“Once you learn how damaged the waste management ecosystems are, it’s not really something you can unsee,” said, 19 year old Riya P Dey, an engineering student from Uttar Pradesh. “To me doing my bit to save the environment is the biggest priority right now.”

Riya is a member of team Planteers who are working on an Underwater Autonomous Vehicle that will have the ability to detect micro and nano plastics (and their concentrations) and filter them out of natural water bodies, while Marine Conservers are designing a self propelled boat that will aid in garbage collection on rivers.

Riya, Akshita and Nikita’s research on the subject led them to the conclusion that with their unparalleled functional properties at a relatively lower cost, plastics have become the ubiquitous propellant force of modern society.  “The microplastic and nanoplastic pollution collectively called micronanoplastics is highly toxic to the environment,” said Akshita.

Team Aero Scientist

19-year-old A Sai Ajay from Andhra Pradesh has an ambitious plan to get rid of the debris in space. He is highly motivated to work in the field of space environment.

Ajay from team Aero Scientist

Ajay is an aerospace engineering undergraduate, with technical knowledge on designing, analyzing and simulating software for better understanding of waste in the space.

“There are six challenges unique to the space environment we deal with gravity, the atmosphere, vacuum, micrometeoroids and debris, radiation, and charged particles. My aim and plan is to design a system that will remove space debris,” said Sai Ajay.

Marine Conservers

Oceans play a fundamental role in mitigating climate change. The sea absorbs harmful toxins and releases oxygen. Proper waste management systems can help preserve ocean health and reduce an economies overall greenhouse gas emissions by 10-15.

Durga, Charan Sai and Venkat Subba from Team Marine Conservers

Durga, Charan Sai and Venkat Subba, a trio of 19-year-olds from Andhra Pradesh are designing a self-propelled boat that will aid in garbage collection on rivers. They call themselves the Marine Conservers.

“Marine plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues, as rapidly increasing production of disposable plastic products overwhelms the worlds ability to deal with them. Millions of marine lives are dying due to plastics every year. We are in dire need of an immediate action,” said team Marine Conservers.

Team Green Ranger

Mayur Patel is a 21-year-old engineer from Gujarat. The only member in Team Green Ranger wants to create a mechanism of garbage collection robot which will work closer to home – in our rural and urban public spaces.

Team Green Ranger

Mayur’s solution aims at reducing human involvement during waste collection, resulting in fewer health concerns. It will also help waste management bodies to minimise total waste material costs.

“The robots would be useful in both rural and urban regions, resulting in better and healthier ways of waste collection,” said Mayur.

NSS Team

“When you can’t get rid of something that is not useful, transform it into something relevant.”

“As a science student, I have grown up working around this philosophy and I am so glad I have found the perfect teammates in Sujitha and Nanda,” said Sai Supriya from Team NSS based in Andhra Pradesh. These three 19 year-olds are taking an inventive approach to plastic disposal by turning it into strong paper that can be used for packaging, and will be biodegradable.

Sujitha, Nanda and Sujitha from team NSS

Their plan is to create a scheme called REPLAN, where the processed and de-structured plastic is mixed with cotton fibre rags and then it undergoes multiple stages of treatment to produce a pulp that is turned into paper. Because of its strength and durability, this paper can be used for creating cartons as well.

In our next article, we’re excited to bring you the details of more entries received under Environment. These Top 50 entrants will now attend a 3-day bootcamp at FIIT-IIT Delhi campus, where they will receive expert advice, guidance and mentoring.

Love and respect for the environment is instilled in all Samsung employees. They are encouraged to take up projects that help create a greener and cleaner world.

In Tirupati, Samsung employees planted trees and cleaned the city

Recently, Samsung employees in Tirupati in southern India, organized a road show covering 47 kilometers to spread mass awareness about Plastic Waste. They cleaned the city and planted trees.

A sapling plantation drive was organized in Vijaywada

In Vijayawada, another southern Indian town, Samsung employees organized a road rally and waste collection drive to spread awareness about environmental conservation. Employees marched with placards and banners with messages on protection of the environment, all of which were made of eco-friendly material. A sapling plantation drive was organized as well.

Employees in Chennai participated in a Walkathon to spread the message about the hazards of irresponsible disposal of e-waste and plastic waste.

It was heartening to see even school children, teachers and families of employees join in the activities. For instance, in Bengaluru, a school teacher who participated in a painting competition said, “Samsung is a brand that young people look up to. When they send the right message to this generation, it will definitely result in a positive change.”

Samsung Employees in Bengaluru joined school children and teachers in a painting competition

Samsung has two manufacturing units in India, one of which is located in Sriperumbudur near Chennai. It has three R&D centres here. The R&D centre in Bengaluru is the largest outside Korea. Bengaluru is also home to Samsung Opera House, the World’s Largest Mobile Experience Centre.

India is amongst the top 5 countries in e-waste generation*. This includes discarded mobile phones, batteries, laptops, chargers, routers, cables, among other items.

Improper handling of this waste is harmful to the environment and also to the people handling the waste. It is important that this electronic waste is disposed in a responsible manner and this responsibility lies with us.

October 14 is the International E-waste Day and Samsung India employees came forward to celebrate this special day. Electronic waste collection bins were set-up in the Samsung Head Office. Employees queued up in huge numbers with electronic waste of different kinds. In return for all the waste they gave away, all employees were gifted saplings and plant seeds. The activity saw great participation and met with immense enthusiasm.

“As users of technology, we cannot be careless about the disposal of the waste. The gift of saplings make it all the more special,” said Shraddha Upadhyay from the Communications team.

In the Samsung Head Office alone, over 100 kilograms of waste was collected. Similar collection drives were held across the country in different Samsung offices as well. All the e-waste collected will be treated in a responsible way through government authorized recycling companies.

On International E-waste Day through this initiative, Samsung urges all consumers to ensure safe disposal of electronic waste.

*Source: ASSOCHAM and NEC report,2018

E-waste Bins

Samsung India Electronics, committed to driving sustainability across the board, introduced a week-long E-waste awareness program for World Environment Day 2016.

As part of the program, Samsung ran a host of activities that educate and ensure awareness, at its two manufacturing units in Chennai and Noida; R&D centres in Delhi, Bengaluru and Noida, partner services across the country and all its offices. Informative videos and teasers and educative e-mailers with facts and insights were shared with employees; while special E-waste bins were put up across locations for employees to adhere to the Company’s philosophy of building a greener environment, so that they can inspire others to follow better E-waste management practices.

Special World Environment Day theme decorations were deployed at mobile service centres. These included notice board decoration and digital display of video, creatives, art or craft made of E-waste material (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and placing plants in and around the service centers. Employees are being encouraged to commute to office through greener mode of transport.

Anurag Prashar, Vice President, Samsung India Electronics, said, “United Nations’ World Environment Day is an important time for everyone to remind ourselves of our responsibility towards the environment and to resolve that we should come together and work towards protecting the future of planet Earth. At Samsung, we are committed to a sustainable future that makes everyday living better and through this program our aim was to drive this change in thinking through a call for action.”

Samsung Take-back And Recycling (STAR) program is an initiative towards leading a more conscious life, and taking an aware step towards conservation and optimization of resources. So, when an electronic product reaches its end-of-life, we take it back, reuse it, recycle and reinvent it. Samsung Electronics is integrating multiple innovations into its business processes for efficient use of resources to contribute to the noble cause of environment preservation for the greater good of the society at large.

The global E-waste policy of Samsung Electronics supports recycling and remains committed to comply with India’s E-waste Management and Handling Rules.