News

Triumph in sustainable development competition

(11 July 2005)

While world leaders continue to consider the problems of sustainable development, four Durham University students are celebrating their triumph in a recent international competition on this very topic.

The third year engineering undergraduates, Sam Jupe, Andrew Warner, Dave Irving and Ewan Jones, along with Mrs Rebecca Mwaba Sangura from Kenya, made up “Team Concino”, which was one of the winning teams of the “Mondialogo Engineering Awards”, presented in Berlin.

The team has a share in a prize fund of around €300,000 along with 20 other winning teams.

Their design brief addressed the problem of waste disposal in many developing areas, but was specifically targeted to plastic bags in Pumwani (Kenya).Bags are casually dumped in rivers and on waste ground or burnt in cases where the volume becomes overwhelming.

The team aimed to propose a sustainable engineering solution to the problem for which the current solutions have serious environmental and aesthetical implications, detracting greatly from the quality of life of the people.

In solving the problem, the team would use appropriate technology, allow minimal running costs and involve the local community in all stages, removing the common pollutant and stimulating economic development simultaneously.