Meghalaya: St Anthony’s College students develop eco-friendly paper from organic waste

SHILLONG:

A team of four B.Sc. III year students of St Anthony’s College, Shillong qualified to the top fifteen from across India and South-East Asia to compete in the Futures+ Challenge.

Futures+ is an international community-driven innovation program organised by Sustainable Living Lab, Singapore, and National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal to develop over 100 environmentally sustainable pilot projects addressing challenge areas such as livelihood, food security, and community health.

The four girls include Farhina Choudhury, Ananya Gogoi, Prerna Jain and Natalya Lyngdoh (Team F.A.P.N.) came up with an eco-friendly solution to develop paper from organic waste such as fruit and vegetable fibers, along with betel nut husks free from harmful chemicals and bleach.

They aim to develop their eco-friendly product as a means of livelihood for the rural unemployed community in Meghalaya.

The team, for around two months, attended the workshops conducted by Futures+ and worked remotely from different locations amidst a global pandemic.

Their pitch and experiment under the mentorship of the Kyrshan Foundation won them a “Special Mention” at the final rounds announced on November 1, where they were declared the top five teams at the international competition.