2021-22 Waste Age Mini Challenge Winners

Posted by Elysia Thorpe on November 16 2021

Design Ventura

This year’s Design Ventura Mini Challenge is open to students in years 7 and 8. The theme for this year’s mini challenge is waste, inspired by the Design Museum’s Waste Age exhibition.

Students are asked to come up with an idea for a new product for the Design Museum Shop that either tackles a waste issue or uses a waste material. You can see a shortlist of last year’s winning ideas here.

The brief:

Students are asked to submit an image of their product idea and complete a short form. Winners are announced fortnightly on Twitter and Instagram from September 2021 until February 2022 and winning students are sent a prize in the post.

Here are the winning submissions for the Waste Age Mini Challenge 2021-22:

Week 1: ‘Build your own Snuffle Mat’ by Max age 11 from The Bluecoat School. A kit that allows you to to create your own pet toy out of recycled clothing and textiles.

Week 2: ‘Put it in Your Belly Before it Gets Smelly!’ by Samuel age 11 from Fulford School. Food containers designed with a timer to help minimise food waste by reminding you when your food will go off.

Week 3: ‘Keyboard Necklace’ by Matilda age 12 from the Richard Lander School. This design makes use of old keyboard letters to create your own customisable jewellery.
Week 4: ‘Recycled Mini Mask Bag’ by Thomas age 12 from the Huddersfield Grammar School. This design up-cycles cleaned disposable masks to create a bag.
Week 5: ‘Fabric Yoyo kit’ by Emma age 12 from the Oakham School. A creative kit that reuses fabric, buttons, and other recycled items to make a yoyo
Week 6: “Bicycle Phone Charger” by Isabel, age 12 from Haberdashers’ Girls’ School. A portable battery that is charged using the kinetic energy from a bicycle, saving and reducing the use of electricity.
Week 7: “Waste 4 Waste Bins” by Amadi Morawakkoralage, age 12 from Beaumont Leys School. Three recycling bins made out of recycling. One is made from Cans. One from plastic bottles and one from paper. They stand out encouraging recycling within classrooms.

Well done students and be sure to keep those submissions coming!