IIT Delhi dept. of Management Studies bags first edition of ‘Ball Beverage Packaging India’s Sustainable Circular Challenge’

On 8th June 2021, the world's leading provider of innovative, sustainable aluminium packaging for beverage, personal care and household products, Ball Beverage Packaging announced the winner of the first edition of its Sustainable Circular Challenge.

In association with Green Dream Foundation, Ball Beverage Packaging launched this peerless challenge program. The aim is to encourage the youth to develop an out-of-box solution to ensure that used aluminium beverage packaging material is collected and recycled infinitely.

The program was in line with Ball’s sustainability goals of increasing the recycling rate and the recycling content of Beverage Cans. However, these innovative solutions, in turn, will shrink the overall carbon footprint when producing beverage cans.

Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi was declared as the winner and Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB) was the runner-up for this year’s contest. The selection committee comprises an esteemed jury of industry, sustainability, and academic stalwarts from TERI, Futurescape, AB InBev & the International Council for Circular Economic.

The perfect example of circular economy has been aluminium beverage cans, with metal recycling forever in a material-to-material loop. When a metal product gets fatigued and reaches its end to deliver benefit, the material still exists and through recycling, its value is preserved forever, making it available today and for future generations.

Amit Lahoti, Vice-President and General Manager, Ball Beverage Packaging, India and South-East Asia Region, said: “Aluminum beverage packaging is a true sustainability champion. If collected and recycled appropriately, Aluminium beverage cans can promote a truly circular economy. We hope that through the Sustainable Circular challenge many more young students and changemakers will come forward to create solutions in collecting used aluminium beverage cans effectively and efficiently. We would like to congratulate all the participants and winners for their ideas in furthering the cause of sustainability and promoting a circular economy.”

Aluminium packaging can be recycled and back on store shelves in as little as 60 days, while other beverage containers may degrade and end up polluting the environment.

Ashish Sachdeva, Founder President, Green Dream Foundation, while speaking at the award ceremony, said: “We would like to place on record our sincere gratitude to Ball Beverage Packaging for making the Sustainable Circular Challenge 2021 possible. Ball Corporation is a pioneer in manufacturing sustainable packaging materials through the use of aluminium cans. We would like to thank all the participants who showcased innovative solutions and congratulate the winners for presenting an outstanding solution in ensuring that used aluminium beverage cans are collected and recycled in the best possible manner.”

A total of 70 teams across India participated in the Sustainable Circular Challenge and out of which 8 teams were shortlisted for the finale which was organised on 5th June, World Environment Day.

The Winning Team “Firefly” from the Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi focused their proposition on the social core, the digital channel, and the data outcome – leveraging smartphones to transform the social experience of drinking and transforming the engagement between packaged beverages and the customer to digital, while the runner-up Team “The Thinkers” from Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar was appreciated for the idea of changing design of the beverage cans and innovative use of QR codes and introduction of incentive schemes in their business model.