Sustainability Open Innovation Challenge 2021 - Round 1

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Across the Southeast Asia region, developments since the 1970s have driven the population to move from traditional villages to varying degrees of Urbanisation, increasing land competition. To safeguard public health and avoid disease outbreaks, an organized district-based solid refuse collection system was set-up in Singapore under the Ministry now known as the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE).

Faced with a landfill space shortfall driven by its highest degree of urbanisation, Singapore took a bold step in 1973 to develop the first waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration plant in Asia outside of Japan.

By 2035, the ash generated from incineration will outpace available landfill space at Semakau island. Increasing waste disposal rates would require a new incineration plant every 7 to 10 years while a space constrained Singapore is not allocating extra precious reclaimed land space to landfill. A drastic change in the amount of waste for incineration is needed.

Singapore’s strategic “Zero Waste Masterplan” has resource resiliency as one of the key 3 pillars. The MSE has set an ambitious 30% reduction target of waste (kg/capita) sent to landfill by 2030. This is incremental to achieving a 70% recycling rate by the same year. The aim is to achieve circularity and endlessly reuse resources. Since Singapore collects unsegregated waste, new approaches are needed to step change capabilities to sort out the main incoming waste streams. Complex waste mixes need to be split efficiently and accurately into its constituents.

This sorting is either manual, or requires high capital investment automated solutions. Efficient, easy to implement, and cost-effective solutions are even more needed not only in Singapore but also beyond, and in emerging economies.

This is a critical step in driving waste reductions and enhanced recycling efforts, and will need to work concurrently with additional downstream solutions enabling further advanced waste separation.

REQUIREMENTS

The proposed solution should include but is not strictly limited to:

• Cost of manufactured and installed assets should be <$200k USD at scale.
• Minimal maintenance requirements
• Applicable for the Southeast Asia market (including Singapore), and expandable to a global market.
• Solution provider(s) is to design a Proof of Concept (PoC) prototype that delivers proof of efficiency, is simple, fit for purpose and drop-in (easy to adapt & implement).
• PoC prototype or semi-commercial solution needs to be available for:
  • Design award by 3 months past selection closure
  • First modular Materials Recovery Facility (mMRF) fabrication and deployment by 3 months past design award
• The required solution is intended to be installed together with, and upstream of the solution from the other Alliance challenge statement.

DESIRED SOLUTION

The modular Materials Recovery Facility (mMRF) is to extract recyclables (plastic, glass, paper/cardboard, metal etc.) from a single stream of mixed waste (i.e. deployed after the separation of food and wet waste in a co-mingled waste recovery facility) and is expected to process 4-5 tonnes of waste per hour on a semi-commercial, scaled prototype with the goal to achieve a rapidly deployable system with both low implementation and operational cost at scale.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

In-kind support and expertise from Alliance will be made available – including those from staff and member companies (i.e technical, design, etc.)

Alliance will grant a prize award of S$20,000 for the winning prototype design or a combined S$50,000 [S$10,000 additional bonus] if a solution provider can handle both the challenge statements by Alliance - Please refer to Alliance's Challenge Statement #2 to know more.

This is a low hanging fruit idea that can be quickly converted from idea to design with a suitable protype to be launched at the soonest possible.

Targeting local SMEs and/or start-ups with the goal to position Singapore as a showcase for the mMRF concept.

The proof of concept in Singapore should catalyse deployment in other countries, transforming recycling rates in communities across the region.

Intellectual Property rights will remain with the solution provider, subject to Fair, Reasonable and Non- Discriminatory Licensing (FRAND) and they can further optimize their design for wider usage, ensuring easy adaptability to the markets where these units will be used.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Across the Southeast Asia region, developments since the 1970s have driven the population to move from traditional villages to varying degrees of Urbanisation, increasing land competition. To safeguard public health and avoid disease outbreaks, an organized district-based solid refuse collection system was set-up in Singapore under the Ministry now known as the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE).

Faced with a landfill space shortfall driven by its highest degree of urbanisation, Singapore took a bold step in 1973 to develop the first waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration plant in Asia outside of Japan.

By 2035, the ash generated from incineration will outpace available landfill space at Semakau island. Increasing waste disposal rates would require a new incineration plant every 7 to 10 years while a space constrained Singapore is not allocating extra precious reclaimed land space to landfill. A drastic change in the amount of waste for incineration is needed.

Singapore’s strategic “Zero Waste Masterplan” has resource resiliency as one of the key 3 pillars. The MSE has set an ambitious 30% reduction target of waste (kg/capita) sent to landfill by 2030. This is incremental to achieving a 70% recycling rate by the same year. The aim is to achieve circularity and endlessly reuse resources.

Plastics are a main constituent of the main waste stream, that once segregated constitutes a resource that could be reused endlessly in Singapore but also in the entire ASEAN region. To achieve this, accurate separation of particular resins from the mixed plastic stream is required. However, most sorting lines installed in Asia are manual and so developing an approach to deploy advanced detection with manual sorting is a critical solution. Ideally needs to work concurrently with the main waste stream sorting solution.

REQUIREMENTS

The proposed solution should include but is not strictly limited to:

• Cost of manufactured and installed assets should be <$200k USD at scale, excluding cost of detection.
• Applicable for the Southeast Asia market (including Singapore), and expandable to a global market.
  
• Solution provider(s) is to design a Proof of Concept (PoC) prototype that delivers proof of efficiency, is simple, fit for purpose and drop-in (easy to adapt & implement).
• The PoC prototype should accurately separate items identified by the detection technology of plastic process flow rate of 4-5T per hour
• PoC prototype or semi-commercial solution needs to be available for:
  • Design award by 3 months past selection closure
  • First modular Materials Recovery Facility (mMRF) fabrication and deployment by 3 months past design award
• The required solution is intended to be installed together with, and downstream of the solution from the other Alliance’s challenge statement.

DESIRED SOLUTION

An advanced detection technology (object recognition, AI, NIR, UV, digital watermark, chemical tracers, etc.) to a manual sorting line to identify and segregate particular resins from a mixed plastic waste stream. Technology solution can be lab-scale or semi-commercial.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

In-kind support and expertise from Alliance will be made available – including those from staff and member companies (i.e technical, design, etc.)

Alliance will grant a prize award of S$20,000 for the winning prototype design or a combined S$50,000 [S$10,000 additional bonus] if a solution provider can handle both the challenge statements by Alliance - Please refer to Alliance's Challenge Statement #1 to know more.

This is a low hanging fruit idea that can be quickly converted from idea to design with a suitable protype to be launched at the soonest possible.

Targeting local SMEs and/or start-ups with the goal to position Singapore as a showcase for the mMRF concept.

The proof of concept in Singapore should catalyse deployment in other countries, transforming recycling rates in communities across the region.

Intellectual Property rights will remain with the solution provider, subject to Fair, Reasonable and Non- Discriminatory Licensing (FRAND) and they can further optimize their design for wider usage, ensuring easy adaptability to the markets where these units will be used.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Working towards a Zero Waste airport, Changi Airport Group (‘CAG’) strives to integrate its waste management practices and works with partners to improve its waste recycling rate, constantly looking out for opportunities that efficiently uses its resources and technologies that could help minimize waste being sent to Singapore’s incineration plants.

With about 13.5% of total waste being recycled, there is a huge opportunity to make a positive impact on the environment and on CAG’s business operations. CAG is interested in solutions that would reduce waste output, lower waste disposal cost or recycle waste into higher valued products.

Startups with relevant solutions have the unique opportunity to collaborate with experts from CAG in order to achieve the airport's Zero Waste Vision by focusing on reducing & converting major waste streams, in particular construction, plastic and food waste.

REQUIREMENTS

Possible solutions include waste segregation, recycling, conversion and/or repurposing and should address the following:

• Conversion of non-recyclable waste into useable products, eg for infrastructure projects. Solutions should ideally meet NEA emissions standards and SCDF building fire-safety codes.
• For food waste, a food waste digester is in place; possible solutions could enhance the process/effectiveness or even replace the current process. For wastewater recycling, ideally the solution should enable internal re-use / circularity - e.g. wastewater could be used for plant watering and solid food waste for fertilizer
• Cost-effective, sustainable packaging solutions that can be rolled out to Changi Airport retailers and tenants
• Pooled or reverse logistic solutions where our retailers can subscribe to reduce packaging waste or carbon emission from transportation.
• Customer-facing recycling solutions as a replacement to existing recycling bins – objective is to increase recycling rate

Financials: The (circular economy) benefits should be cost-competitive, ideally providing an overall saving vs current state. Target commercial ROI of 5-7 years.

Timelines: Target to implement a POC (proof of concept) within 3-6 months and full commercialization of the solution within a timeframe of 1-2 years.

DESIRED SOLUTION

The solutions will support the Zero Waste Vision as well as reduce waste sent to incineration and landfill. Reduction measures recycling and waste conversion / circular economy impact will be key performance indicators. Startups with a ready-to-implement solution and/or a component to integrate to existing solutions are welcomed.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

CAG is able to provide the physical space within the airport boundary to facilitate trials. CAG also provides the avenue/platform for startups to testbed their innovative solutions. Financial support for pilots and implementation is available; eligible local startups can additionally utilize startup grants.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

In the year 2020, 539,000 tonnes of food waste was disposed of in Singapore. While the National Environment Agency has established the Resource Sustainability Act in order to implement measures to address food waste, it targets large commercial and industrial premises. Hawker centres, food courts and other smaller food establishments currently do not have the means or the infrastructure to eliminate food waste produced on site. The composted output can be used as fertiliser for nurseries or community gardens.

REQUIREMENTS

The proposed solution should take the following into consideration:

• Mobile/Modular - for planning purposes
• Detachable - to be usable at multiple sites
• Easy and safe to transport - for efficient collection at neighbourhood food establishment
• Works on-the-go
• Similar size to 20ft truck or smaller - for access to the centres
• Compost within 24 hours or less, will need to meet Singapore’s standard which can be used in agriculture and horticulture (can refer to this document for more information)
• All grey water, waste water, sludge, etc. must meet the standards set by PUB in order to be discharged into the sewage system (refer to this link for more information)
• The food waste digester should only allow for food waste in the system
  

Bonus points if the bio-gas can be converted into electricity to power the food digester.

The solution should not be:

• A food waste transporter
• The transportation of food wastage to off-site locations for food digestion
• Contributing to an increase in waste water, byproducts to be collected, reported and disposed of as per the relevant standards

DESIRED SOLUTION

A mobile, modular solution that can be deployed at various locations without space constraints and that can digest food within. The resulting compost to be reused.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Additional information to consider:

• A typical hawker centre produces around 1 ton of food wastage daily. As such, the food waste vehicle should ideally collect 5 tonnes or more in one run
• Consider your solution to also be a collaborative effort with other stakeholders such as town councils and/or landscaping companies
• Your solution only has to manage the waste processing as the landscaping and recipient companies of the recycled waste are already lined up.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

As of 2020, there are a total of 114 hawker centres in Singapore. As a food centre, it is crucial to ensure the environment is hygienic. Currently, hawker centres need to be closed for one day for cleaning. High pressure water jetting for thorough cleaning and washing of the centre is deployed. The closure affects hawkers’ earnings and the current jetting method consumes a lot of water and is labour intensive.

REQUIREMENTS

Keeping in mind that the main objective would be to achieve cleaning standard stipulated in SS499: 2002 (2015), the proposed solution should be:

• Autonomous/wire/hose-less
• Docking station should be able to re-charge batteries and top up water tanks
• Able to steam-clean and vacuum
• Robust (weather [centres are usually open to the elements], human obstruction, furniture obstruction, vandalism, animals, theft) - both the robot and charging station
• Able to reduce water consumption by 50%
• Operating outside of normal working hours during graveyard shifts at night with minimal lightings (mostly for safety purposes)
• Quick to recharge batteries and refilling water at the docking station

DESIRED SOLUTION

An autonomous cleaning robot that is able to operate without disruptions to hawker centres’ operations and reduces resource intensive water and labour consumption.

The ideal solution should give an increase in productivity by 100%. For example, 2 robots can be used concurrently at 2 different locations with the same worker.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Hawker centres are open-air complexes that house multiple stalls selling a wide variety of affordably priced food. They are mostly conveniently located at the heart of housing estates, usually with adjourning wet markets. It is an important place for social interaction and community bonding. The material of its floors are usually tiles. There are 114 hawker centres in Singapore, similar solutions can be implemented at food courts.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Develop new polymer families with tunable properties, benchmarking commercial materials (e.g. polyolefin, metal, glass) and with enhanced chemical recyclability under mild condition and/or biodegradability. Applicable segments would include auto, rigid packaging, mechanical parts, and electronics, piping, others.

REQUIREMENTS

• Feasibility – Systematic effort to quantify the desired properties for applications in each of the targeted segments
• Infrastructure – Logistics network for collection of used plastic products
• Renewability – Technology to breakdown engineering plastics for chemical recycling, additives to compatibilize different plastics for mechanical recycling
• Mindset – Objective perception towards plastic use
• Timeline – as soon as possible
  

DESIRED SOLUTION

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Mercedes-Benz AG is one of the world's largest manufacturers of luxury passenger cars. In 2020, it sold around 2.1 million passenger cars and nearly 375,000 vans. In its two business segments, Mercedes-Benz AG is continually expanding its worldwide production network, while gearing itself to meet the requirements of electric mobility.

As sustainability is the guiding principle of the Mercedes-Benz strategy, this means creating lasting value for all stakeholders: for customers, employees, investors, business partners and society as a whole. The company thus takes responsibility for the economic, ecological and social effects of its business activities and looks at the entire value chain.

Under the heading “Ambition 2039”, Mercedes-Benz Cars has set itself ambitious goals. As part of this, we are examining the issue of sustainability along the entire value chain. The goal is the transformation of the full range of passenger cars into a carbon-neutral product range as of 2039. This includes – from socially and climate-friendly degraded raw materials, through the supply chain, and the production of the vehicles – all stages up to the use phase as well as recycling concepts. Already during the development of a new model, Mercedes-Benz Cars looks at its environmental performance over the entire life cycle. Vehicles from Mercedes-Benz Cars are scrutinized in a comprehensive life-cycle assessment, the so-called 360-degree environmental check: from manufacture of the raw materials to production and from vehicle operation to recycling at the end of the vehicle’s service life – a long way off in the case of a new Mercedes-Benz.

To support us enabling this ambitious plan and to drive the road towards a holistic approach to sustainability within the entire company, at the Sustainability Open Innovation Challenge 2021 (SOIC), we are specifically searching for innovations and startups working in the field of sustainable materials.

REQUIREMENTS

We are looking for all kinds of materials and technologies that can make our products more sustainable. As an example, we are searching for leather alternatives (e.g. plant-based or fungal) and alternative sustainable materials that can reduce the use of plastic. Your technology/material is ideally already tested to hold up to automotive quality standards; however, this can also be achieved during the collaboration process.

To get an idea of how a past collaboration with a startup in this field looks like, please visit: https://www.ubqmaterials.com/blog-post/case-study-daimler/

The solution must be adaptable to the automotive context and should ideally already be market-tested. A use case specifically in the automotive context does not necessarily have to be done yet, but the solution should be adoptable to this context. We are mainly looking for startups that have at least a first prototype, product or process in place. Startups in a later development stage and SMEs are also suitable.

Development timeframe: after the project frame is set up, it usually takes around 3 to 6 months to conduct a PoC project and evaluate the results.

DESIRED SOLUTION

After reviewing the applications together with the relevant business units, our business units decide to set up a Proof of Concept (PoC) project to test the solution and adapt it to Mercedes-Benz specific needs. If the PoC is successful and the business unit wants to continue the collaboration, the projects can be continued and developed further. The ultimate goal is a lasting technological cooperation or implementation into our products or processes.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Singapore generates ~900kt of plastic waste annually (source: NEA). By processing these wastes, such as sorting and cleaning, the recovered plastics can become
feedstock to be processed again into respective polymers, thereby reducing plastic waste going to incineration, landfill or the waterways and ocean. Infant and adult diapers are made from recyclable polymers, but were never recycled when soiled.

REQUIREMENTS

Processing plastic waste into respective polymer feedstock streams for Singapore’s petrochemical industry:

1. Processing respective plastic waste streams into polymer feedstock
2. Each feedstock stream (Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Polyester, Nylon, etc) can then be used by the petrochemical industry in the production of their respective polymers (PE, PP,
   PET, PA, etc)
3. Potentially shorten the development life cycle through collaboration with overseas solution providers
   

DESIRED SOLUTION

There are solution providers in US and Europe that utilizes different technologies to convert plastic waste streams into feedstock to be reproduced into respective
polymers. Potential to collaborate with overseas solution providers to develop Singapore startups into regional/global solution providers to shorten the development timeline.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Bio waste such as human excretion that come together with soiled diapers need to be separated which might require different technology / process steps from other plastic waste streams. The separated human excretion can then be handled through the general sanitary / sewage systems.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Continued demand for unsustainable seafood is threatening fish stocks and will lead to issues in food security, causing businesses in the seafood sector to face key challenges such as supply volatility and price instability. Through our partnerships with the hospitality and F&B industry, WWF-SG identified the challenge of identifying unsustainable products and finding suitable alternatives in their seafood procurement lists as one key barrier hindering businesses from engaging in responsible seafood procurement is. Current practices require not just technical expertise in understanding what constitutes seafood unsustainability but also the need for man-hour intensive efforts to identify such products within procurement lists.

This challenge is not unique to sourcing responsible seafood. With more companies committing to sustainability and implementing sustainable procurement guidelines, businesses are facing a growing need to make quick and efficient sustainability assessments of its current procurement lists such as for packaging and other food products, to find suitable alternatives accordingly. This growing trend is also aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 12: Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns and the Singapore Green Plan 2030.

REQUIREMENTS

We are seeking the development of a tool that lowers the barriers for any seafood procuring business along the seafood value chain to source seafood responsibly, by making identification of unsustainable products and alternative sourcing from validated sustainable sources effortless within the procurement process. The tool should be seamlessly integrated into the current workflow, easy to interpret & navigate, and provide a dynamic procurement experience for the abovementioned food-related businesses.

The tool should have the following key features:

• Automatically upload and process seafood procurement data from businesses
• Conduct an automated & real-time analysis to produce a visual sustainability procurement assessment based on a WWF-provided seafood sustainability dataset (also known as the red-list) that would include global sustainability assessments on specific seafood stocks
• Be platform agnostic for close & broad-based integration with commonly used procurement systems such as ARIBA and SAP
• Provide dynamic recommendations for alternative seafood products and supplier contacts based on a WWF-provided credible and verified supplier directory
• Log-in & business-specific features which allows for registration and saving past results in their accounts, and provide feedback.

In the long term, we would like for solution providers to consider:

• Long-term commercial viability for the platform including a subscription membership model or other revenue generating features, as well as continued maintenance and update of platform features
• Search engine optimization to enable non-users to be brought into the platform
• Dynamic updates of the sustainability dataset and supplier directory when new data is made available
• Data mining of procurement lists to identify high volume but data-deficient fish stocks to inform future sustainability assessments
• Future expansion into other sustainable products for business procurement, such as alternative materials for plastic packaging, sustainable pulp or paper products, or plant or cell-based meat
• Future expansion into wider markets such as individual consumers

Timeline for desired implementation would be late 2022.

DESIRED SOLUTION

The outcome could be in the form of a one-stop website, or potentially an API that can integrate with procurement systems in order to provide this real-time analysis. Solution adopters that purchase high volumes and varieties of seafood should be able to reduce man-hours required to quickly and efficiently understand where they stand in terms of sustainability. The solution should also be scalable to other regions/products and be adaptable to include other innovative opportunities and functionalities.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

To avoid proliferation of multiple tools in the market, the solution should not create additional complexity or workflow steps for the end-user. This would be counterproductive to our objective as it makes it more difficult for hospitality end users to adapt. As part of this collaboration, we intend to partner with key industry stakeholders that will provide both input from the industry as well as an avenue for pilot testing any potential solutions. WWF-Singapore will provide S$20,000 in seed funding for the winning proposal.