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What Design Can Do announces winners for the Make it Circular Challenge

In association with IKEA and Impact Hub Amsterdam, What Design Can Do selects 13 examples of innovative excellence in sustainable design, promoting a circular economy.

by Pooja Suresh HollannavarPublished on : May 09, 2023

Over the past few years, there has been an exponential rise in design competitions that focus on innovative solutions directed towards climate change. Founded in 2011, and based in Amsterdam, with hubs in São Paulo, Mexico City, Delhi, Nairobi, and Tokyo, What Design Can Do (WDCD) is an organisation dedicated to using design to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, fair and just society. With the motto 'Hate it. Change it. Make it.', the Make it Circular Challenge is What Design Can Do's fourth climate action challenge, in partnership with the IKEA Foundation. After a six-month-long process and deliberation stage, they have finally unveiled the winners.

  • Balena creates a new kind of bioplastic | Make it Circular | What Design Can Do | STIRworld
    Balena creates a new kind of bioplastic Image: Courtesy of What Design Can Do
  • Cool Bricks creates a bio-stabilised brick made from cow dung | Make it Circular | What Design Can Do | STIRworld
    Cool Bricks creates a bio-stabilised brick made from cow dung Image: Courtesy of What Design Can Do

Selected from over 650 participants who submitted projects across a variety of themes: what we eat, what we wear, what we buy, how we package and how we build, the 13 winners received a 10,000 Euro award prize along with a development training package, designed to launch their ideas into action.

The challenge asked its participants to create circular products, services, spaces and systems that could help tackle the root of the climate crisis. Participants submitted their projects in one of five categories, representing key value chains and industries like consumer goods, packaging or food. Though the shortlisted and subsequently the 13 winning entries are divided loosely among these categories, they share three large fundamental themes—designing to last, working with nature, and using what already exists.

Nivogo presents circular transformation for Make it Circular | Make it Circular | What Design Can Do | STIRworld
Nivogo presents circular transformation for Make it Circular Image: Courtesy of What Design Can Do

Designing to last takes a long view and impresses upon the importance of creating products and services with long life cycles. Projects like Alterist Marketplace (United Kingdom), a community-led platform for upcycled products, Nivogo (Turkey), a pioneering circular economy start-up refurbishing and recirculating products collected from users and partners, and Balena (Israel) a new kind of bioplastic that is both durable and compostable, exemplify this aspect exceptionally well.

  • Craste creates packaging from crop residue | Make it Circular | What Design Can Do | STIRworld
    Craste creates packaging from crop residue Image: Courtesy of What Design Can Do
  • Rethread Africa uses maize husk and pineapple threads to create textiles | Make it Circular | What Design Can Do | STIRworld
    Rethread Africa uses maize husk and pineapple threads to create textiles Image: Courtesy of What Design Can Do

Working with nature focuses on bringing about a more-than-human approach to design. This approach was at the core of many of the winning entries, such as Mujō (Germany), a biodegradable packaging made from seaweed, Apidae (Mexico), a system of breeding boxes for pollinating insects, CoolBricks (the the Netherlands and Uganda), a bio-stabilised brick made from cow-dung, Landless Food (Hungary), a project that highlights the issue of food insecurity and explores the potential of microalgae to regenerate extinct flavour families and revive culinary traditions, and Drinking Sea Water (Germany), an open source purification device that can make nearly any water drinkable at a household level.

  • Resortecs develops solutions for textile disassembly and recycling | Make it Circular | What Design Can Do | STIRworld
    Resortecs develops solutions for textile disassembly and recycling Image: Courtesy of What Design Can Do
  • Saathi creates biodegradable sanitary pads made from banana fibre | Make it Circular | What Design Can Do | STIRworld
    Saathi creates biodegradable sanitary pads made from banana fibre Image: Courtesy of What Design Can Do

The winning designs with the use what already exists strategy focussed on the popular 'reduce, reuse, recycle' theory and created new value out of discarded or neglected materials that already exist. Three of these projects i.e. Rethread Africa's (Kenya) textile solution uses maize husk residue to reduce resources and emissions. Saathi (India) offers biodegradable sanitary pads made from banana fibre, while Craste (India) creates packaging from crop residue using circular fibre technology, and examines how crop waste could be used to create new products. Other winning entries include Resortecs (Belgium), a start-up that is developing solutions for textile disassembly and recycling, and Guiding the Runoff (Mexico), an adaptive reuse and urban renewal project in Tijuana, Mexico.

  • Drinking Sea water creates an open-source purification device that can make nearly any water drinkable at a household level | Make it Circular | What Design Can Do | STIRworld
    Drinking Sea water creates an open-source purification device that can make nearly any water drinkable at a household level Image: Courtesy of What Design Can Do
  • Guiding the Runoff is an adaptive reuse and urban renewal project | Make it Circular | What Design Can Do | STIRworld
    Guiding the Runoff is an adaptive reuse and urban renewal project Image: Courtesy of What Design Can Do

The task of selecting winners from a pool of fierce competition was entrusted to an international jury composed of 12 leading experts in design, climate action, and entrepreneurship. It included Arthur Huang (founder, Miniwiz), Bas van Abel, (founder, Fairphone) and Corine Gray (Unreasonable Group). Deliberating online and in-person over impact, creativity and design, feasibility, scalability, and teamwork, the jury selected the winners from a shortlist of 50 top entries.

“This year's selection process was very competitive. Not just because there were so many engaging and innovative ideas—but also because we recognise how urgent and complex the circular transition really is. The winning projects reflect this in their diversity and vision, and I am looking forward to seeing the impact they'll have, both individually and together,” shares Richard van der Laken, WDCD’s co-founder and creative director.

  • Mujō creates a biodegradable packaging made from seaweed| Make it Circular | What Design Can Do | STIRworld
    Mujō creates a biodegradable packaging made from seaweed Image: Courtesy of What Design Can Do
  • Apidae creates a system of breeding boxes for pollinating insects | Make it Circular | What Design Can Do | STIRworld
    Apidae creates a system of breeding boxes for pollinating insects Image: Courtesy of What Design Can Do

The competition is also supported by Impact Hub Amsterdam. The 13 winners, in addition to the 10,000 Euros in funding, also gain access to a development programme co-created with Impact Hub Amsterdam. The programme consists of a week-long boot camp and is specifically created for the participants. Winners will be on the receiving end of mentorship on a range of skills they need to make their projects a success—from developing a viable business model to impact-assessment and networking. This will further be combined with ample exposure and publicity.

Alterist-Marketplace is one of the winners at Make it Circular | Make it Circular | What Design Can Do | STIRworld
Alterist-Marketplace is one of the winners at Make it Circular Image: Courtesy of What Design Can Do

What Design Can Do, along with the Ikea Foundation and Impact Hub Amsterdam, has created something that is more than just a competition. It is a movement, a call for action, and a common ground for people of similar sensibilities with a wide range of ideas and proficiencies from across the world, to come together towards a common goal of creating a fairer and more sustainable society. 

What Design Can do announces winners of the Make it Circular Challenge Video: Courtesy of What Design Can Do

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