Budding scientists rethink food packing for schools
The momentum is gathering pace for the 2021 BIEA International STEM Youth Innovation Competition, the flagship climate action programme from the British International Education Association.
Since the launch in January 2021 with COP26’s Regional Ambassador Ken O’Flaherty, there has been huge interest from schools and teachers from around the world. Despite the ongoing pandemic, applications are coming in from over 40 countries and regions, supported by BIEA’s growing international network. In less than 5 weeks, 36 teams will proceed through to the next round based on their qualification scores.
Each year a theme connecting world issues and technology is chosen for the competition. This year’s theme is “RePack to Restore Our World”. The COVID pandemic increased the world’s single use plastic to an all-time high, and disposable food packaging waste is a global problem. Students between the age of 9-21 worked in teams are asked to come up with alternative sustainable food packing design for school and workplace lunches. The teams have been asked to research existing packaging materials, analysing the pros and cons of plastic packaging, make physical prototypes of their sustainable food packaging materials and conduct experiments for their solutions.
In the next round, qualifying teams will be asked to conduct a packaging challenge in their local community. They will also be asked to present in front of an international Judging Panel in a Dragon’s Den style virtual meeting. The judges are STEM experts from UCL, Imperial College, the Royal Institutions as well as leading scientists from abroad.
Young people today are more conscience of the environment than ever before, they want to invest and protect the world that is their future. The competition provides a platform for their voices to be heard. Time and time again, the drive and determinations of these young people and their teachers are to be celebrated. Teams from countries crippled by COVID such as India are pushing on with their projects, despite access issue to prototyping supplies.