USask EcoHack winners examine how to implement a citizen recycling pick-up service

Each year, USask students hack their way to a more sustainable future in the EcoHack competition by finding solutions to global challenges.

By University Communications

This year’s winning team focused on a sustainable and fiscally responsible strategy for providing a community-based service that allows citizens without easy access to recycling centres to get their recyclables to processing locations like SARCAN.

EcoHack is an immersive multi-day experience where innovators, tinkerers, and makers from various degree programs collaborate using a rapid-iteration design model to generate viable solutions to a problem of their choosing, that fits within the sustainability theme and helps advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Find more information about Ecohack and the SDGs: http://usask.ca/EcoHack

See all 2022 EcoHack winners below. All projects from this year’s competition can be viewed at https://canvas.usask.ca/courses/62543 

$1000 Empowered Action Award Presented by Victory Majors Investments Corporation Sarah Khalid, Kassidy MacIntyre, Dillon Vu

How might we provide service outside of our 65 communities to customers who do not already make arrangements to take materials to SARCAN in an effective and fiscally responsible manner, addressing SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production?

$500 Courageous Curiosity Award Presented by Federated Co-Op Limited Asma Ahsan, Vrinda Anand, Hafsa Azam, Inika Babbar, Krunal Chavda, Diksha Singh

How might we effectively monitor wildlife in the city, addressing SDG 15: Life on Land?

$500 Courageous Curiosity Award Presented by Opus Akshara Dash, Nacim Khelifi, Kamal Zrein

How might we create a barrier-free (24/7/365) public washroom system service model in Saskatoon, addressing SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities?

$250 Sustainability and People (SDGs 1-5) Award Presented by The Office of Sustainability Isra Banigesh, Obaida Elshamy

How might we improve equitable access to green space in the city?

$250 Sustainability and Planet (SDGs 6, 13-15) Award Presented by The Office of Sustainability Ella Grimeau, Greta Mader Stevens, Emma Pierrard

How might Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council support and increase the number of large-scale composting operations in the province in a way that focuses on regenerative practices?

$250 Sustainability and Prosperity (SDGs 7-12) Award Presented by The Office of Sustainability Henry Dao, David Kuang

What might be some innovative forms of mass transportation beyond what currently exists in Saskatoon?

$250 Sustainability and Peace (SDGs 16-17) Award Presented by The Office of Sustainability Brigitte Lim, Sebastian Olivares Herrera, Alejandro Recalde Rosero

How might we use surfaces of buildings for food or solar production in the Saskatoon climate?