{"id":73650,"date":"2024-08-19T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T13:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/?p=73650"},"modified":"2024-08-16T15:15:52","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T19:15:52","slug":"samsung-solve-for-tomorrow-sustainability-winner-on-changing-the-world-without-changing-behaviors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/samsung-solve-for-tomorrow-sustainability-winner-changing-world-without-changing-behaviors\/","title":{"rendered":"Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Sustainability Winner on \u2018Changing the World Without Changing Behaviors\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe wanted to change the world without changing behaviors,\u201d student Marquel Johns<\/strong> told more than 200 Samsung Electronics America<\/strong> employees during our latest internal Sustainability 101 <\/em>webinar series.<\/p>\n

Marquel was explaining the origin of Ecotech<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 the featured entrepreneurial startup on the webinar \u2013 and its innovative line of such paper-like products as artisanal writing materials, insulating drinks collars, and coasters that are all manufactured from sargassum. This overabundant invasive seaweed is washing ashore on Atlantic Coast beaches and otherwise being hauled off to landfills as waste before it rots and creates toxins that enter into air and water. Substituting more sustainable raw material in commonly used objects doesn\u2019t require consumers to change behavior but still improves our world.<\/p>\n

Together with fellow classmates Esosa Osayande<\/strong> and Daki Alston<\/strong>, Marquel was part of the student team from Baltimore\u2019s Green Street Academy High School<\/strong> that earned the \u2018Sustainability Innovation\u2019 Award<\/a> during the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow<\/strong><\/a> (SFT) science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competition for public middle and high school students. SFT challenges 6th<\/sup> through 12th<\/sup> graders to identify a pressing issue in their local community and use their STEM skills to solve it.<\/p>\n

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The team presenting at the 2023-2024 Samsung Solve for Tomorrow National Finalist Pitch Event.<\/p><\/div>\n

Daki, an asthma sufferer, detailed that Baltimore has a very high incidence of asthma, 13.7% of the population compared with a national average of 9%, in part due to the persistent air quality issues in the community and municipal incineration of post-consumer paper and plastic waste. The Green Street Academy student team set out to address those linked problems<\/a> \u2013 and their research led them to seek a replacement for forest-derived paper pulp. They found their raw material in sargassum seaweed, which is experiencing unprecedented growth due to rising ocean temperatures, and causing its own air quality, human health, and disposal problems for coastal communities.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\n\t\t\"Solve\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n

Reflecting a growing trend among award-winning SFT entries, the Green Street Academy team and their teacher and mentor Harry F. Preston V<\/strong><\/a>, who also joined the webinar, are pursuing entrepreneurial avenues to sustain their Solve for Tomorrow project beyond the competition. They aim to continue benefiting their community, even as the trio students have graduated high school and moved on to college to pursue engineering studies. Hence the foundation of Ecotech, which will formally launch this month as it completes the process of raising seed capital, with their former high school and school district as potential first clients.<\/p>\n

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Samsung employees on the webinar were highly engaged with the Green Street Academy presenters. Thumbs up and clapping hands emojis flowed in a steady stream across the screen, as the students were peppered with questions about the inspirations behind Ecotech, details of the manufacturing process, cost and environmental comparisons with forest product-based paper, whether the team had considered ways to automate the labor-intensive process of collecting sargassum, and why traditional paper producers don\u2019t simply use sargassum themselves.<\/p>\n

Among the answers:<\/p>\n