The St Andrews Prize for the Environment: finalists announced for 21st prize

Following receipt of entries from around the world, three finalists have been selected for this year’s prestigious St Andrews Prize for the Environment.

Saathi – All-Natural Sanitary Pads from Banana Fibre

Spice for Life – Hope for Madagascar’s Rainforests

EcoAct-Tanzania – Preventing Ocean Pollution and Deforestation

The winner will receive US$100,000 and the runner(s)-up will receive US$25,000.

Celebrating its 21st award in 2019, the Prize is an environmental initiative by the University of St Andrews in Scotland and independent exploration and production company, ConocoPhillips. The award recognises significant contributions to environmental issues and concerns with a focus on sustainability, conservation, biodiversity and community development.

Over the years, the Prize has supported a wide range of projects from around the world in addressing the diverse topics of sustainable development, food security, urban re-generation, recycling, health, water and waste issues, renewable energy, community education and more. Ideas submitted have been global, local and/or scalable and they outline how they will socially and economically impact the communities where they are based.

The finalists’ presentations will be heard at a seminar at the University of St Andrews and the winner will be announced on the evening of Thursday 21 February 2019.

Submissions for the Prize are screened by representatives from the University of St Andrews and ConocoPhillips before being assessed by a panel of Trustees representing science, industry and sustainable development. The award goes to the project that the Trustees believe displays the best combination of science, economic realism and sustainability.

To find out details about previous prize winners and finalists, including a map showing where they are from, visit the St Andrews Prize website.

The three finalists for the St Andrews Prize for the Environment 2019 are:

Saathi – All-Natural Sanitary Pads from Banana Fibre
Producing eco-friendly, 100% biodegradable and compostable sanitary pads in the state of Gujarat.

Saathi has developed a sanitary product that is biodegradable and compostable, using agricultural waste from banana tree farmers as a raw material. The Saathi pads enable girls and women in rural Jharkhand to have access to clean, biodegradable menstruation products.

Spice for Life – Hope for Madagascar’s Rainforests
Planting sustainable, high-value forest crops within existing forests to help restore Madagascar’s ecosystem.

Centre ValBio’s initiative, ‘Securing and Protecting Investments & Capacity for Environmental Sustainability (SPICES)’ seeks to protect Madagascar’s ecosystems through conservation science. The project explores how human landscapes can continue to sustain biodiversity whilst ensuring continued support to local resource needs.

EcoAct-Tanzania – Preventing Ocean Pollution and Deforestation
Transforming plastic waste and packaging into durable, long-lasting plastic timber, replacing the use of wood timber.

EcoAct-Tanzania aims to address the challenges of post-consumer plastic pollution, waste management, deforestation and climate change. It has developed a plastic extrusion technology called ‘Waxy ӀӀ technology’ which recycles and transforms plastic waste into durable plastic timbers, providing an alternative to wood timbers.