Young people, grandparents, creatives & industry experts
hack together to solve the plastic crisis.
Focus: Reuse/ Refill
How it works
We invite dozens of passionate change makers with different skills, age & experience to hangout together and come up with innovative solutions to the plastic crisis. You’ll be allocated to a curated team to solve a “REFUSE/ REDUCE” challenge. There’ll be a webinar one week before to manage expectations. On the day, we’ll work through iterative creative sessions to reach the best solutions. Last but not least, you’ll pitch the best solutions to our expert panel.
After the Hackathon, there may be an opportunity to trial these solutions with a partner organisation. If you do not want to commit to bringing the idea to market, you may want to get involved as advisors if someone choses to bring the idea to market.
It’s ruddy exciting, inspiring & energetic. No panels but actions. Everyone will get their hands dirty. We disrupt the classic corporate innovation process by bringing in young students, graduates, ballet dancers, behaviour scientists, musicians, mums, teachers, investors along with industry leaders on the same table to find innovative solutions that encourage human behaviour change without compromising on convenience and profit.
Previous Attendees
Marks & Spencer, Just Eat, InnovateUK, Pret a Manger, Unilever, UBS Asset Management, Sustainable Ventures, Veolia UK, Made in Britain, Tomra, Floreon, UK Circular Plastic Network, Virgin Management, Sky Ocean Ventures, Lush, Imperial College, Dyson School of Design Engineering, Royal College of Art, Wycombe Abbey School, Harrodian School and more …
London Hackathon Analytics
CHANGEMAKERS
447+
Passionate Applicants
1,440+
Hours Of Innovation
54%
Female Changemakers
9%
less than 18yrs old
IMPACT (YEAR 1)
18
New Business Ideas
#2
New Startups Incorporated
2million
Tonnes of Plastic
£9m
UK Market Size
Endorsed by UK Government Ministers
What are the influencers saying
UK Government
“It’s great to see students and industry leaders are being inspired to join the fight against plastic waste during the Government’s Year of Green Action. Eliminating avoidable plastic waste is a part of our landmark 25 Year Environment Plan, but we cannot do it alone. This is a fine example of collaboration to help leave our environment in a better state than we inherited it for future generations.”
Michael Gove MP – Former Environment Secretary, UK Government
Marks & Spencer
“Depending on whether your reusable water bottle is ‘half full or half empty’, you may view this as another innovation talking shop or the start of something big. For me, it feels like the latter given Dhruv’s ambition of creating an incubator of solutions that will now be developed and launched in the real world.”
Roger Wright – Packaging Technologist Lead, M&S Clothing & Home
Just Eat
At Just Eat, we are passionate about driving environmentally-friendly behaviour to reduce the impact of our sector on the planet. That’s why we were delighted to sponsor a “Plastics Hackathon” at Imperial College in February 2019 – uniting over 100 sustainability experts, big brands, students, young people and scientists in a call to arms to find alternatives to plastic packaging. It was an inspiring day, enabling us all to learn more about the innovative cross-sector solutions to the problem. Plastic pollution is an issue that threatens us all and we must all act to do something about it.
Robin Clark – Director of Business Partnerships, Just Eat UK
Veolia
“An exciting event where we were part of an innovation sprint with like minded, super enthusiastic people. It is incredibly important that we continue to collaborate and look to find solutions across the value chain to help tackle plastic pollution. We look forward to seeing what the next hackathons deliver and where we can continue to provide expertise and insight.”
Richard Kirkman – Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Veolia
Giki
“It was fantastic to have so many varied people in one room thinking about plastic. It was especially striking just how engaged, and active, the younger participants were which makes me so optimistic for the future.”
James Hand – Co-Founder, Giki
Industry Partners
Academic & Research Partners
