School students' massive waste hunt nominated for UN prize
The 'Change4Circularity' project and Astra's Mass Experiment have just been selected as one of the world's best digital solutions by the World Summit Awards. The nomination recognises a unique Danish model where thousands of children and young people don't just learn about the green transition – they actively create the data foundation for it.
"We're used to seeing children and young people as recipients of education, but here we're turning things on their head. They are co-researchers. Seeing 30,000 young people go from being passive spectators to being environmental entrepreneurs creating real change is the project's greatest victory."
So says Lykke Margot Ricard, associate professor at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) and academic leader of the Change4Circularity project.
When 30,000 Danish school students mapped their own and nature's content of plastic and textiles last year, they didn't just create learning for themselves. They delivered Denmark's largest dataset of its kind.
This achievement has now secured the Danish partnership a nomination for the prestigious World Summit Awards (WSA) 2025 in the Environment & Green Energy category.
Often referred to as the "World Championship of digital innovation," the prize celebrates the world's best digital solutions (apps, platforms, etc.) that contribute to achieving the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The world is in the midst of a resource crisis, where the consumption of plastic and textiles massively burdens the climate. Whilst political solutions often drag on, the partnership behind Change4Circularity has chosen a different path: activating the country's youngest citizens as co-researchers.
From classroom to research database
The project, developed in collaboration between researchers from the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Roskilde University, the Royal Danish Academy, and the national science centre Astra, unites research and education via Astra's proven Student Science method, which makes it possible to scale data collection to a level that conventional research can rarely match.
Through Astra's Mass Experiment, students investigated plastic waste in nature, source separation in homes, and mapped textile consumption using precisely the same rigorous methods that researchers themselves employ.
"The Mass Experiment creates the framework and content together with the researchers, and the students create the change. This nomination shows what strong partnerships can achieve when research and education are brought together," says Lene Christensen, programme manager at Astra.
The massive dataset now provides researchers, industry, and policymakers with new, detailed insights into the material flows and everyday practices that are crucial for bending the curve on waste volumes.
"The students' contributions give us data and perspectives that are invaluable in work on plastic pollution and circular solutions," states Kristian Syberg, professor at Roskilde University.
Young people as green entrepreneurs
The WSA nomination particularly highlights the project's ability to connect heavyweight research knowledge with modern digital learning and entrepreneurship. It's not just about registering waste, but about acting on it.
Students have applied their new knowledge to develop clothing exchange schemes, create campaigns promoting plastic prevention, and challenge their parents to improve their waste sorting. They have thus gone from being passive recipients of education to being active agents of change.
A model for the future
That a Danish education and research project has been selected as a WSA Nominee places it amongst the world's best digital solutions with high societal impact. It confirms that the Danish model for collaboration between universities and primary schools has international potential.
For Lykke Margot Ricard, associate professor at SDU and academic leader of Change4Circularity, the nomination is proof that complex science can be made accessible and action-oriented:
"Astra has, with the Mass Experiment, a unique method and platform that makes it possible to bring research into play throughout the entire education system. Seeing students become both co-researchers and environmental entrepreneurs is one of the most meaningful aspects of the project," she says.
The WSA jury is now voting on the final winners, and the global finalists will be announced in January 2025.
Facts about the project
What is Change4Circularity? A research and communication project funded by the Innovation Fund (as part of the TraCE partnership), which links the circular economy with citizen science.
What is the Mass Experiment? Denmark's largest Student Science project, which engages students from across the country in a concrete research project every year. Astra runs the Mass Experiment – the national Science Centre, and in 2024, 30,000 students participated under the theme "Supermarket to Bin."
Who is behind it? The partnership consists of the University of Southern Denmark, Roskilde University, the Royal Danish Academy, Astra, Plastic Change, the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, Green Transition Denmark, and the industry organisation Cirkulær.
Funding: In addition to the Innovation Fund, the Mass Experiment 2024 is supported by the Villum Foundation, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and the KFI Business Fund.
Contact for further information
Lykke Margot Ricard, Associate Professor, University of Southern Denmark (SDU) – lmri@iti.sdu.dk
Lene Christensen, Programme Manager, Astra – lch@astra.dk