PSU
Center for Sustainability and Climate

Prince Sultan University

Center for Sustainability and Climate

ZERO WASTE: OUR FUTURE ENVIRONMENT AND SAUDI VISION 2030

Prince Sultan University
PepsiCo
Center for Sustainability and Climate
PSU SDG Club
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
Vision 2030 of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

  1. Context

    The goal of zero waste is to move to a circular economy where we divert waste from landfill and design systems in harmony with the environment and nature. Waste negatively impacts the environment and contributes to Greenhouse gas emissions. We can have a big impact by changing the way we design products and packaging, reusing materials and giving them a second life, encouraging collection and recycling, and raising awareness about the importance of this issue.

    PepsiCo has implemented a global sustainability framework called pep+. A key pillar under this framework is advancing the circular economy in the markets we are operating in. This is done through a number of initiatives such as implementing plastic collection programs, introducing rPET (recycled PET) into bottles, advancing packaging innovation, and investing and supporting startups and entrepreneurs in this space.

    The Zero Waste Initiative is a platform to encourage ideation and solutions that help us take concrete steps towards achieving a circular economy. In particular, addressing how we can reduce what we need, reuse as much as we can, and recycle and compost what we cannot.

    The Zero Waste initiative clearly reflects the principles of sustainable development and helps us move towards sustainable living through the incremental reduction of waste. This initiative is also aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) titled "SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production" and Saudi Vision 2030.

  2. Objectives

    The Zero Waste initiative focuses on driving circularity on campus through:

    • Creating awareness about achieving the zero waste goal within the PSU campus.
    • Incentivizing students to ideate and create projects and initiatives that help reduce waste on campus.

  3. Examples of Projects

    • Building awareness about Zero waste, recycling or circular economy (by means of developing Mobile app, creating creative awareness campaigns, seminars and presentations, creating media sources like podcasts or suggestion boxes…)
    • Designing solutions for products that can be reused (e.g., University restaurant, bookstores, classrooms, faculty offices, auditoriums etc.)
    • Designing alternative solutions to packaging, process improvement, disposal of food waste, disposal of materials used in class (paper, plastic, electronics, etc.)

  4. Who can participate?

    • A group of students (Min 3 and Max of 5 students per group) from any college at PSU.

  5. What you need to prepare

    • An action proposal (Max 10 pages) including a one-page Executive Summary and any relevant attachments (media (e.g., video), campaign, prototype of a solution, system design…etc.) submitted with the students’ names and majors, while indicating in the subject: ‘ZERO WASTE: Taking action’ proposal followed by the project title.
    • A video, up to 2 minutes in length, outlining the team’s proposal and how it meets the criteria below (refer to section 6).
    • The Top 10 Projects will have 7 minutes to present their proposals to a panel of judges in the final round. The teams should be prepared to explain their proposals and to answer questions.

  6. The selection criteria

    • Originality of the initiative
    • Stakeholders are clearly stated and addressed
    • Impact creation (The current impact of the proposed initiative)
    • Implementation ability (Can this be done over proposed time frame?)
    • Sustainability (Is the initiative viable in the long term?)

  7. Rewards

    1st Reward
    SAR 8,000

    2nd Reward
    SAR 6,000

    3rd Reward
    SAR 4,000

    4th Reward
    SAR 3,000

    5th Reward
    SAR 2,000

    PSU and PepsiCo will be shortlisting the challenge finalists and rewarding the winners with the following awards:

  8. Timeline

    • Start of Zero Waste Initiative: Jan 15th
    • Teams to submit their proposal: March 7th
    • 20 projects will be shortlisted: March 9th
    • Online Voting Opens for Students: March 9th
    • Online Voting Closes: March 13th
    • Top 10 Projects are shortlisted and announced: March 15th
    • Projects to present their initiatives: March 20th
    • 5 Winners are announced: March 20th

  9. How to participate?

  10. Contact us