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Sensor Technology challenges NSCC students to champion sustainable solutions

Photo of Making Waves Competition's winning team, Ocean Savers. From left to right: Mary Mach, Hira Bari and Mirian Quispe.
Making Waves Competition's winning team, Ocean Savers. From left to right: Mary Mach, Hira Bari and Mirian Quispe.
Category: Campuses Community and Culture Student Awards and Learning

Fostering sustainability

On March 7, the Making Waves Competition at NSCC's Ivany Campus brought excitement and innovation to the presentation theatre. In collaboration with Sensor Technology Ltd, NSCC students were challenged to foster sustainable solutions for our communities.

Making Waves

For the competition, Sensor Technology donated $5,000 in prize money between the top three teams, with the winning team receiving $2,500 and an optional work term with the organization. The teams were tasked to choose a nonprofit organization that is doing great work in the community to receive a $30,000 donation from Sensor Technology to support a community partnership that makes a ripple effect in our communities, focusing on one of four priorities:

  • Protecting our people
  • Protecting our shores
  • Protecting our ocean species
  • Restore what we take from our oceans.

Students gathered to pitch their ideas that aligned with Sensor Technology's core pillars of community and sustainability to a panel of industry experts. The judges included Niru Somayajula, CEO of Sensor Technology Ltd; Melanie Nadeau, CEO of COVE; and Saltwater Sean McMullen.

The six teams pitched their community partnership idea to the panel, sharing their innovative solutions and chosen cause.

The Ocean Savers

The winning team, Ocean Savers, led by Ivany Campus Business Administration students Hira Bari, Mary Mach, and Mirian Quispe, claimed the top prize of $2,500 and optional work terms through Sensor Technology Ltd. Their standout presentation involved the pressing issue of plastic pollution, focusing on bottle cap recycling. They chose this issue because bottle caps are an often-overlooked contributor to ocean waste as they are traditionally not recycled the same way as other plastics, frequently ending up in the garbage.

Ocean Saver's winning pitch involved a strategic partnership with NSCC Applied Research. Their innovative solution proposed the shredding and melting of bottle caps to transform them into various plastic products. This comprehensive plan addressed the recycling of bottle caps and aimed to prevent these small yet impactful items from polluting our oceans.

They’ve already started making an impact within their campus by strategically placing bottle cap recycling bins to collect and repurpose the often-discarded items with ambitions to scale their initiative across all 14 NSCC campuses. To follow, they plan to use this momentum to ignite a community movement through their civic event, "Cap Crusade." Through the event, the Halifax community would be encouraged to save and bring their caps to locations across the city to gather thousands of caps that would otherwise end up in our oceans or landfills.

We're grateful for partners like Sensor Technology, who not only support NSCC students but challenge them to innovate and impact their communities.

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