Goa Institute of Management, India

Make the Case: Reduce plastic waste in India

In 2021, Centre for Social Sensitivity and Action (CSSA), Goa Institute of Management, India in collaboration with Commitments Accelerator for Plastic Pollution (CAPP), USA, Ocean Recovery Alliance (ORA), USA and Indian Plastic Institute (IPI), India launched a unique competition known as Make the Case.

The competition was designed for students from Management Schools/Technical and Scientific Institutes/ Universities of India and was supported by the prestigious Chellaram Foundation.

Make the Case competition sought to bridge the gap between knowledge creation and knowledge transfer. Over 165 teams registered for this competition. The final round of the competition was held on March 2021 where 11 teams received the awards.

The objectives of the competition were: To highlight innovations in plastic waste reduction which can be replicated nationally and globally; to sensitize and induce behaviour change among youth and the community and to showcase the power of Public-Private Partnership for tackling plastic waste in India.

The competition also showcased how organisations in India, through their unique initiatives on reducing plastic waste, were responding to several goals of sustainable development.

Top 3 Learnings

1. We became more cognizant of the innovative solutions offered by various organisation (public, private and NGOs) working on reducing plastic pollution in India.
2. Through this competition, we once again became aware of the power of multi-stakeholder approach in the localisation of SDGs.
3. This competition made us realise how youth are passionate about the cause of plastic waste in India and the zeal and enthusiasm they have to become change agents and bring out changes in their community.