Top Takeaways From My First Zero Waste Hackathon
Last week I participated in my first ever (virtual) design strategy hackathon! The event, called the Brand Battle for Good, was hosted by Brands for Better, an organization working to promote collaboration across Vancouver-based brands in the name of social and environmental change.
I work remotely for a company based in Vancouver, which is why the event was focused on the Vancouver area. That being said, so many of the ideas I learned about at the event are those that can be implemented anywhere!
The focus of the hackathon was to come up with solutions that move Vancouver towards zero waste. Not only did I get to learn about the many innovative zero waste initiatives that are leading Vancouver’s sustainability scene, but I also learned so much from my teammates and the unique perspectives that each one of them brought to our group as we worked to tackle this challenge.
It was so exciting to see so many brands collaborate on developing zero waste solutions and I left feeling very optimistic about the future of sustainable innovation!
Although my team didn’t win, I’m very excited about the winning team’s idea (which will actually get put into action in Vancouver!) as it tackled a similar stream of waste as my own group’s idea: restaurant and take-out waste. I think the project has the potential to make a huge impact and I can’t wait to follow along on the implementation journey!
I was very grateful to have had the chance to learn from so many experts working toward a zero waste city. I wanted to pass this learning forward by sharing some of my key takeaways from the event with each of you below.
All of the awesome brands who got involved with the event - either as participants, sponsors or speakers!
The first day of the conference involved hearing from a number of entrepreneurs, researchers and experts who have been working on zero waste solutions in Vancouver! Here are some of my biggest takeaways from these sessions:
Zero Waste spaces are enhanced when they’re designed to be inclusive and welcoming to the community. Adding free activities or programming open to the community is a great way to promote accessible education on zero waste living.
Decreasing food waste has a huge potential to make an impact on a business’s carbon footprint. If you’re a business that sells food, you can significantly reduce your footprint simply by getting creative about ways to divert excess food waste!
Sustainable businesses should aim to take the onus off of the consumer in order to reach their sustainability goals, not the other way around. Sustainability should be integrated within the entire business and their core values, not added as an afterthought that falls onto the responsibility of consumers.
Textile waste has become a major issue in our landfills. Textile recycling is very capital intensive, and many blended materials require a much more difficult process than regular textile recycling. As consumers, it’s crucial for us to learn about what materials our clothes are made of so that we are educated on the proper recycling options available. However, the biggest emphasis should be on extending the life cycles of our existing pieces.
Construction in Canada produces 4 million tonnes of waste and 20 million tonnes of CO2. Most of this waste shouldn’t be sent to the landfill because it still has value. 99% of buildings are taken down in a very destructive way, leaving no room for repurposing materials. Adam Corneil and his team at Unbuilders have set out to make an impact in this space by deconstructing instead of demolishing, in a way that salvages most materials for reuse. (I think this is a fantastic approach to construction that should be applied across Canada!)
By keeping conversation around environmental sustainability positive, we can remain factual while framing environmental issues as opportunities – this helps bring more people into the conversation. It’s also important that engagement surrounding the topic is a two-way street and allows for input from both sides, such as the customer and the business.
It’s important to understand people’s motivations for adopting sustainable behavioural changes. This allows us to better appeal to different lifestyles when promoting sustainable behavioural changes.
My team used Miro for our brainstorming & ideation process. I loved this approach for mapping things out visually.
The second day of the conference involved working with a team to develop and pitch an idea to judges that will help bring Vancouver closer to its zero waste goals. Here are a few of my takeaways related to problem-solving from this part of the hackathon:
The perfect solution will not come right away, particularly when it comes to complex, multi-faceted issues like zero waste. It’s important to spend time thinking about the problems that you want to solve before jumping right to the solutions. In other words, be obsessed with understanding the problems. From there, you should pick your favourite problems to focus on, and determine where you can have the biggest impact while working within your current constraints (ex. time, budget).
Don’t choose a problem to focus on based on a single solution you have in mind. Allow yourself to brainstorm a bunch of potential answers to the question “How might we solve this…” before narrowing in on one solution. Get creative here – you might surprise yourself with how many new ideas you can think of!
It’s crucial to consider social inclusion and accessibility when assessing potential solutions. Here are some key questions to ask yourself when assessing whether a solution is inclusive:
Does the solution cost the consumer to participate? This can be in the form of both time, money and convenience.
Can those with limited access to technology still use and benefit from the solution?
Is data being used in a way that may discourage people from participating?
What potential barriers to entry are in place and how can we remove these?
I hope you found some of these takeaways helpful as you work to develop sustainable solutions in your own life! I certainly got a lot of learning out of the activities and am feeling reinvigorated to bring these ideas back to my own community.
