Korean students selected as Earth Prize finalists

Members of the CIECO team pose with a banner introducing their reusable cup circulation system at Chadwick International School in Songdo, Incheon. Courtesy of CIECO

By Kwon Mee-yoo

The Earth Foundation CEO Angela McCarthy / Courtesy of Earth Foundation

A group of students from Chadwick International School who created a reusable cup circulation system for cafeterias, have been selected among the 10 finalists for the Earth Prize.

Working under the name CIECO, the students invented the “Cupy” system to reduce plastic waste at school. The system is currently in use at their international school in Songdo, Incheon.

The Earth Prize is a global environmental sustainability competition for teenagers, operated by the Earth Foundation established by Switzerland-based Irishman Peter McGarry.

Angela McCarthy, CEO of the Earth Foundation, emphasized that the Earth Prize aims to be a platform where the youth can have their voice heard.

“My passion really came from a big belief in teenagers and I was always so amazed at the brilliant ideas they had. But because they were teenagers, no one took them seriously and there was nowhere to take those ideas, which leads to a lot of frustration, depression in the current circumstances of the world,” McCarthy said in a Zoom interview with The Korea Times, March 7.

“Through the understanding that this glorious planet we live on is suffering and (teenagers) are going to be left with a serious mess, why not let them bring some power, self-esteem and confidence that they can do something to help the earth while also inspiring them, educating them and having them bring their solutions to life.”

"So we want (the Earth Prize) to be a platform where we want to hear your voice, help inspire that creative spark in you, hear your incredible solutions and, through our network, to raise the money to bring the solution to life so that you can really see an impact and how you can change people's lives," McCarthy said.

The idea of the Earth Prize is to have this opportunity accessible to students all over the world from different backgrounds. Over 650 teams of students from 516 schools in 114 countries and territories had signed up for the competition from some of the most elite boarding schools in the United Kingdom and Switzerland to schools in refugee camps in the West Bank and Jordan. The 10 finalists showcase the diversity the foundation seeks as the list includes teams from Jamaica and Kenya to Canada and Armenia.

"It's such an incredible mix and that's what we want ― all the kids to look at what other teams are doing and interact with them. They will now be part of our alumni," McCarthy said.

The Earth Prize has mentors who provide guidance to the participants and ambassadors who promote the foundation's initiatives. As years go by, winners, finalists and participants of the award will become alumni, creating a network of youngsters interested in environmental sustainability.

"I want to build something so that we can follow these incredible students and solutions that they're going to come up with and see the real impact and change. Next year, two years, five years, 10 years and we be able to have those students come back and be an ambassador for us, come back and run parts of the alumni, come back and be a mentor, inspire many, many more teenagers to realize that they have incredible ideas,” McCarthy said.

Reusable cup system for schools

Jung Dong-yun, 17, Head of CIECO, said the rapid increase of plastic consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic made him take an interest in the impact of plastic consumption on the environment.

"South Korea is a small country considering its territory, but for the plastic consumption per capita it is ranked first in the entire world... As I researched more about plastic cups, I found that they result in a tremendous amount of environmental problems when produced, disposed, incinerated, buried or thrown away, like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch," Jung said.

"The fundamental solution to preventing plastic consumption is to actually reduce the initial consumption itself."

Jung looked around his school, and saw that the cafeteria deli had been consuming about 100 to 150 plastic cups every day before COVID-19, which adds up to at least 20,000 plastic cups used every year. He decided to resolve the problem in the local community first.

The Cupy system offers reusable cups with QR codes and a mobile application with personal QR codes. When scanned, a beverage is served in the reusable cup. After use, students and faculty can put the cup in the collection boxes throughout the school, where they are collected and returned to the cafeteria by CIECO members.

Jung said the Cupy system differs from other reusable cup systems due to the mobile application.

"With the adoption of an app ― as we have to scan our QR code for every rent and every return ― we can use that data to track people's usage and encourage people to return their cups by the action of scanning them, and also to make use of the big data collected during the operation to later make an analysis, for example, on the return rate of the cups, the peak time and where the most cups are collected," he said.

Jeong Da-eun, 17, CIECO's management team leader, is in charge of operating the system in the school.

"We have two important jobs in this club ― collecting the cups and helping how the students use the reusable cups," Jeong said.

"One of the important jobs the management team does is distributing the work schedule. Because we have only 11 members in our club and not all of us can work at every moment, we have to organize the work schedule so we can distribute the work."

Promotion team leader Lim Tae-eun said participating in the Cupy system made her more conscious of environmental issues.

"My initial impression was that, since we have to collect the cups from the collection boxes in our school, the members have to see a lot of cups being thrown in the boxes, and when I collect them I'm really proud of myself that I was able to save that amount of plastic cups that would have been disposed. I think I became more passionate in environmental problems and plastic problems as I can see that I'm being engaged in that," Lim said.

McCarthy described what CIECO is doing at their school as "truly unbelievable."

"This is where the adjudicating panel is seriously impressed. Because this is not just on paper, it's already in practice. Let's not forget, this is not even we hope it works ― this is what we're doing. They already have an impact, they already have data of how much of an impact they're creating. So that is extremely powerful," McCarthy said.

The winner of the Earth Prize will be announced Friday.