UnwastedShapes: Reducing Climate Change

A project which will use an estimated 1000 tonnes of wet, waste coffee grounds yearly to recycle and make into reusable crockery and cutlery used in cafes.

My solution is to use an approximate of 1000 tonnes of disposed and waste coffee grounds in the first year, to recycle it. The waste coffee ground will be recycled by making it into reusable crockery such as coffee mugs, bowls, plates, etc. This will be used by cafes as it will be environmentally friendly and will have a comparatively low cost. The making of the cutlery will be done by providing a job opportunity to the less fortunate people. They will be able to help by making the disposable cutlery and crockery and at the same time provide to their family with the money that they have earned. The process of making coffee grounds into reusable cutlery and crockery is by first converting coffee grounds into lactic acid to poly lactic acid (PLA)  as a raw material is taken for different molds to shape into biodegradable cups, plates, etc. In this project of UnwastedShapes I will employ the less fortunate and use their help and skills . These biodegradable & reusable cutlery, crockery can be then sold to cafes, restaurants, etc.

The waste coffee grounds after making the coffee are disposed of which contribute to greenhouse gases by producing CO2 and methane emissions. Methane is one of the most abundant greenhouse gas which harms the environment approximately 86 times more than CO2. This leads to a major problem, Climate Change. It contributes to 150,000 deaths every year. Landfills in India grow bigger everyday, some growing larger than mountains. 150,000 metric tons of waste is disposed of in the landfill daily. Approximately 11 grams of fresh coffee ground is gone into every cup of coffee, 9 million tons of coffee is brewed every year, resulting in 18 million tons of waste ground coffee being disposed of yearly from metro city cafes of India. Coffee grounds is just a start to this project. In the future, this project will implement other waste resources that can be Un-wasted and Reshaped to different lifestyle products for daily use at affordable prices and will be biodegradable. Along with solving the problem of waste coffee grounds, poverty will be improved as the less fortunate will be given jobs to make and recycle the coffee grounds. They will then be able to provide for their family. Out of the population of 1.39 billion people in India, 97.7 million of the people are poor. This solution will solve two problems at the same time. One of the coffee grounds being recycled, preventing it from producing greenhouse gases, and another of poverty which is another m

The solution targets mainly the people of India. The whole 100% of India is affected by air pollution and Climate Change and many of them suffer from lung diseases due to the pollution. Coffee grounds are one of the factors contributing to air pollution and Climate Change. The recycling of the coffee grounds will improve the air pollution by a little bit and will also provide reusable, biodegradable  cutlery and crockery for the people in India. This will affect them positively as they will be using environmentally friendly crockery and cutlery and also will have improved the air quality by a bit. This solution also targets the underprivileged people who are in need of jobs. The solution will provide jobs for them which will help them provide for themselves and their families such as being able to afford an education for their children, buy basic necessities, etc. Since 97.7 million people are suffering from poverty in India, this project will be able to help many of them.

What steps have you taken to understand the needs of the population you want to serve?
This solution will solve problem for following :
- All metro cities air pollution quality ( as coffee consumption is highest in metro cities adding large landfills ) 
- direct employment to over 20,000 under privileged Indians ( Indirectly better living to 100,000 family members)  in next 10 years  

Have you done research with potential users? 
Yes I am associated as EIR (Entrepreneur In Resident) with www.ghvaccelerator.com and also worked as a volunteer with a coffee company called Blue Tokai Roasters www.bluetokaicoffee.com a leading coffee company of India 
Interviewed several cafe owners if they can provide free coffee grounds and engaged  chemistry professor to build the process of converting the coffee ground into lactic acid and manufacturing consultant who will help in setting up the first plant for the same also interviewed several supply Chain companies who can help in distribution and sales of the cutleries and manage the  supply chain too. 

Have you volunteered or worked with an existing organisation working on this problem? Have you engaged potential users in the design and development of your solution?)

This project is a new and innovative idea in India. This is a newly developed idea which is still on the stage for further research and development. 

My solution tries to address the two large issues - Climate Change and Poverty. It mainly focuses on climate change as the project is based on that. Waste coffee grounds release harmful gases which contribute to climate change and global warming. My solution is to recycle it and create reusable, biodegradable cutlery and crockery that is environment friendly. The second solution is solved simultaneously to the first solution as underprivileged people will be employed to manufacture the reusable, biodegradable cutlery and crockery. 

Till now, I have identified an environmental and social problem and have come up with a concept that can be implemented and will positively effect the environment and people. I have researched about the process of how to convert waste coffee grounds to reusable cutlery and crockery. I have also reached out to less fortunate women groups who have the skill to work under me in this project. I have also interviewed and consulted many stakeholders such as a manufacturing consultant, chemistry professor, supply chain company, and sales and marketing head. 

My solution “UnwastedShapes” of India will use a technology where potential bioconversion of spent coffee grounds (SCG) into lactic acid (LA). SCG were hydrolysed by a combination of dilute acid treatment and subsequent application of cellulase. The SCG hydrolysate contained a considerable amount of reducing sugars and it was used as a substrate for culturing several lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and LA-producing Bacillus coagulans. Among the screened micro-organisms, Lactobacillus rhamnosus CCM 1825 was identified as the most promising producer of LA on a SCG hydrolysate. Despite the inhibitory effect exerted by furfural and phenolic compounds in the medium, reasonably high LA concentrations and yields were gained. Therefore, it could be demonstrated that SCG is a promising raw material for the production of LA and could serve as a feedstock for the sustainable large-scale production of LA.  

The core technology is converting coffee ground waste into Lactic Acid which is further converted into Poly Lactic Acid. 

Steps:
1. Coffee Ground (SCG) to Lactic Acid(LA) :  CG is converted into LA  through below mentioned fermentation method

2. The LA is then converted into lactide(PLA), a ring-form dimer of lactic acid. These lactide molecules bond together to create polymers.

3. The result of the polymerization is small pieces of raw material polylactic acid plastic which can be converted into an array of PLA plastic products. And PLA is bio degradable .

At present the project is at PoC stage and targeting to have 100 employees from rural India ( underprivileged with skills ) and 10 coffee stores in next 12 months 

The target is to produce over 10,000 cups and this will serve directly 10,000 end users and 1 million people indirectly will be impacted with this solution in next one year subject to Proof of Concept (PoC) goes well.

Impact goals for next year pls use from previous answer . 

How You will achieve ?
I have collaborated with following to achieve the targets
1. India’s one of the largest coffee company www.blue tokai coffee.com to source SCG and to sell UnwastedShapes products 

2. Onboarded Advisors 
A) Chemistry professor - 1 
B) Renowned Industry mentors  - 4 
C) sourcing of manpower for manufacturing will be done from NGOs empowering beggars in metro cities 
D) Manufacturing company for cutleries
E) Lab to process the SCG>PLA

(SCG = spent coffee grounds, PLA = Poly Lactic acid)

I’m measuring my project with the help of four of the UN's Sustainable Developments 16 parameters.

1. No Poverty: Giving employment to the less fortunate people to manufacture the products will give them a good earning. This will make them be able to afford basic necessities, food, and more for them and their families. 

2. Zero Hunger: Since the less fortunate will be given salaries/wages, they will be able to afford food for themselves and their families. 

3. Good Health and Well - Being: The waste coffee grounds produce a lot of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane which very harmful gases. This causes respiratory diseases for many people, negatively effecting their health and well being. This solution of environmental friendly and recycled cutlery and crockery will reduce the pollution as the waste will be recycled instead of being disposed of. This will improve the health and well -  being of many people as the greenhouse gas emissions will reduce.

5. Gender Equality: Women of rural areas will be employed to manufacture the environmental friendly crockery and cutlery. This means that they will work independently and will be able to provide for themselves and their family.

I also used and will be using S.M.A.R.T goals to measure my goals and make sure my goals are achievable. 

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Achievable 

R - Relevant

T - Time - Bound

Two main hurdles as of today for my project “UnwastedShapes “

1. Covid keeping us at home but physical presence is required to meet various other stakeholders.
2. Project financing

Team skills 
Vanalika - Chief Executive Officer 
Team Member 1 (Intern-1) -  Market Research  (6 months experience)
Team Member 2(Intern-2) - digital contents & social media (6 months experience)
Team Member 3 (Intern-3) - data analysis (6 months experience)
Team Member 4 (part timer -1) - manufacturing coordination ( 5 years experience)
Team Member 5(part timer -2) -supply chain & logistic management  ( 5 years experience)
Team Member 6 (advisor-1) - retired chemistry professor ( 35 years experience)
Team Member 7 (advisor-2) -Marketing & Communcation head of a large FMCG company in India ( 20 years experience)
Team Member 8 (advisor-3) -Founder of India’s best  Coffee Company ( 20 years experience)
Team Member 9(advisor-4) - founder of India’s best Early stage Accelerator (25 years experience)

The project is at Proof of Concept (PoC) stage and looking for grants to accomplish my PoC. Bluetokaicoffee is sponsoring the resources as interns and data collection for my project and assurance to buy the UnwastedShapes as first paid customer. Post that, I will take the project for commercialisation pan in India.

As the HP Girls Save the World prize requires girls between the age of 13-18, I qualify for it as I'm a 14 year old girl. This prize also requires the solution/project to be on the topic of Climate Change. My solution is directly helping solve Climate Change as it is reducing the pollution and greenhouse gases. If I win the prize, I will use the funding to invest into implement this solution. I will be able to employ some of the underprivileged women, have advisors/interns, marketing of the products, etc. But, this will be more limited than the HP Girls Save the World prize. 

I believe that my solution can help solve multiple issues at once. The main issue that will be solved will be of Climate Change as waste coffee grounds pollute the environment and release harmful gases. Another issue that will simultaneously reduce poverty as well because this project will be employing women from the rural area to make the reusable, biodegradable cutlery and crockery. My solution is directly helping solve Climate Change as it is reducing the pollution and greenhouse gases. If I win the prize, I will use the funding to invest into implement this solution. I will be able to employ some of the underprivileged women, have advisors/interns, marketing of the products, etc. But, this will be more limited than the HP Girls Save the World prize.