Winners of Tetra Pak Malaysia’s ‘Design for Good’ Eco Design Competition were unveiled after four months of intense competition. Selected from 20 shortlisted design ideas, these products – upcycled from used beverage cartons – are set for mass production and commercialisation to benefit the Beautiful Gate Foundation for the Disabled.
Themed ‘Design for Good’ and launched in June this year, the competition is a result of the continued collaboration between Tetra Pak (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd and Majlis Rekabentuk Malaysia (MRM). In its second year running, Tetra Pak’s ‘Design for Good’ Eco Design Competition challenged participants to up the ante from just creating good designs to designs that do good by making a positive impact on the environment and people in need.
“In line with Tetra Pak’s motto ‘Protect What’s Good’, this eco-design competition makes good on our brand promise to protect the environment – and in this year’s theme “Design for Good” – society in general,” said Gaine Clarke, Managing Director of Tetra Pak (Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines) Sdn Bhd. “The winning designs will not only help keep waste out of landfills, but also empower the disabled towards economic independence. With the winning entries we’ve selected, I am confident that this competition has achieved its objectives.”
The mood was festive at the prize giving ceremony with the top 20 teams cheering on every winning team as they were announced. The Best Commercial Value award that came with a RM5,000 cash prize went to the Eco Stand team, designed by Aaron Yeo Wei Tsiang, Wong Man Hou and Jason Ng Chi Kai. They also won the People’s Choice Award worth RM1,000 in cash prize. The Best Design Value award, Best Eco Idea award and the MRM Choice award that came with a RM3,000 cash prize went to the Recycle Calendar Clock, Cradle to Cradle and Luminance design teams respectively. *kindly refer to the winning teams’ appendix for more details.
The top notch designs submitted this year gave judges such a hard time in deciding the winners of each award that the organizers and judges decided that they had to give a new Special Mention award with RM1,000 cash prize to the Envallet team as the scores were so close. All winning teams will also be awarded the opportunity to attend an exclusive Eco Entrepreneur training worth RM1,000 per person and their designs will be given to the Beautiful Gate Foundation for the Disabled for commercialisation as an alternative fundraising tool.
“Last year’s Eco Design competition was a great start to a novel concept and we are very happy to partner with Tetra Pak again this year as curriculum partner. Here at MRM, we constantly emphasise the importance of designs that are not only innovative and creative but also has the potential for commercialisation,” said Pn. Futom Shikh Jaafar, Senior General Manager of MRM. “The judging and commercialisation process has been a particularly invigorating exercise and I am glad to note that there is no shortage of talent and innovation amongst Malaysians.”
“We came up with the idea of Eco Stand as we were exploring the natural essence of the materials given in the competition, in this case, a beverage carton and we wanted to give a fresh perspective of what can be done with a carton,” said Aaron Yeo Wei Tsiang. “This is the first time that we joined a competition where our designs will go towards funding a social cause and we’re honoured to be selected as the grand prize winner. It’s great that Tetra Pak even went the extra mile by organizing a workshop that helped us refine our designs and ensure that it is definitely commercially viable.”
At the end of October, the winning teams will be attending the Design Handover training session with the residents of the Beautiful Gate Foundation, to assist and train them to reproduce their designs for commercialisation. Residents of the foundation will further be empowered with green marketing training necessary to commercially reproduce and distribute the winning designs for sale.
“We work with the residents of the home, empowering them to be independent and self-reliant and we are very excited to get started. We’re really glad to have Tetra Pak’s support in following through with this effort, do check out Tetra Pak’s Facebook and corporate website for more updates on when these designs will be ready for sale,” said Sia Siew Chin, Executive Director of Beautiful Gate Foundation for the Disabled.
The top 20 shortlisted designs are open for public viewing in exhibition at the Publika Shopping Gallery until <final date of exhibition>. For more detailed information on the ‘Design for Good’ Eco Design competition, check out www.tetrapak.com.my or Tetra Pak (Malaysia)’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/tetra.pak.
