SPac Challenge

The South East Technological University is delighted to announce the SPac Challenge, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded initiative. Dr Adriana Cunha Neves, Department of Applied Sciences and Dr David Culliton, Department of Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering are co-ordinating the initiative and are looking forward to working with over 250 families across Co Carlow, during the month of February, to encourage them to shop more sustainably. 

Encouraging families to shop sustainably is a crucial step towards reducing our impact on the environment. The initiative will provide an opportunity for people to learn about the benefits of sustainable shopping and how they can make small changes to their daily routines that can have a big impact on the environment. It will be interesting to see the results of this initiative and the impact it will have on the community.

This initiative challenges primary school children to shop with their families paying attention to the packaging of the products that they purchase. Each will score their shopping according to how sustainable their packaging is. The 12 participating schools will crown a sustainability hero from their school. The winners will be the students who have the best score in the challenge and receive a prize. 

“Children are the biggest influencers of the household purchases, we want them to be involved in the shopping process, and to open the discussion about our role in reducing and recycling plastics not only in school but also with their parents at time of purchase” said Dr David Culliton.

“We have been working in the development of compostable bioplastics for the last 5 years and have developed a range of bioplastics arising from waste materials from different industries. These bioplastics have different characteristics and endless possibilities of applications. We aim to do our part to educate the community about ours and other more sustainable options to single use plastics” added Dr Adriana Cunha Neves.

The school with the best over-all score will be invited to SETU Carlow for a morning of fun Science activities where they will learn more about bioplastics and how to scientifically test them. Moreover, the students will be able to ask their own questions and provide ideas about how to solve the problem of plastic pollution.

SPac Challenge Instructions & Rules