Green City Challenge brings innovations to the City
22 December 2015
A device that plugs the leak in your loo; a system that protects your business from load shedding; a floating wetland that soaks up the pollution from ponds and streams; and a tricycle that enables waste recyclers to move their heavy refuse bags across the City with a minimum of effort.
These are the best and brightest innovations that caught the eyes of the judges in the first Green City Start-up Challenge, hosted by the City and the University of Johannesburg. “A Green Economy is central to Johannesburg’s future,” says the MMC for Economic Development, Councillor Ruby Mathang. “The Department of Economic Development, which initiated and implemented the Green City Start-Up will be launching the 2016 Challenge at the end of November 2015.”
Some 86 entries were received for the competition which called for “revolutionary ideas in the green space.” This was then narrowed down to 20 contestants who attended a workshop at which they were helped to refine their ideas even further. Resolution Circle, a UJ-owned private company coordinated the next stage during which eight finalists were given R250 000 each to build a prototype and present their models to the judging panel.
“The development of a green economy is one of the City’s core strategic objectives,” says MMC Mathang. The Challenge will now become a regular event in Joburg with the City providing the seed funding and working together with business and the academic community to promote research and development into sustainable, green projects.
The eventual winner, Paseka Lesolang, was rewarded with a R1-million first prize to further develop and market his product while three other innovators also received substantial amounts to take their businesses to new levels and introduce concepts that will enable the City to launch initiatives that will result in a more sustainable future.
Plug the leak, save on your water bill
A leaking toilet in a household can waste up to 300 litres of water a day, equivalent to seven bathtubs filled with water. Multiply this volume with the number of households and you get a staggering 7.2-billion litres lost from the system every year. For a water scarce country that currently experiences an unprecedented drought, this is simply not good enough. One young entrepreneur, Paseka Lesolang, saw in this an opportunity to save water and to build a business through the invention of an innovative device that stems the losses in the case of a toilet leak. The Leak-Less Valve produced by his company, Water Hygiene Convenience earned Lesolang the R1-million first prize in the City’s Green Challenge Fund. And consumers in the City will be winners too… because they will have substantial savings on their monthly water bills if they install the device.
Device to reduce the chances of load-shedding
Load-shedding has become part of the vocabulary of every South African in recent years. While utility companies such as City Power are leading the way with technology to limit the supply of power allocated to households during peak consumption periods, smaller innovators are finding solutions on the demand side of the business.
Sean Moolman, from Power Optimal received a R500 000 award from the Green Challenge Fund for his invention that can reduce peak power demand in businesses and buildings by up to 50% and help companies to save up to 20% on their electricity bills.
New-look trolley recycles the waste business
Most Joburgers are familiar with trolley recyclers who pull fully-laden pallets of waste up and down the streets to Pikitup’s recycle centres. For Gabriel Ally – a former Mayor of the Johannesburg Junior Council – this was an opportunity to transform the informal recycling industry and start an enterprise called GezaJozi.
His Recycle e-Trike is a 500W electrically assisted tricycle with the ability to double the output of the trolley recyclers and improve their safety on the roads. The vehicles are fitted with disc brakes, indicators, a headlamp and hooters and can move more than 150kg of recyclable waste over a distance of more than 50km.
Floating islands purify the water
How do you remove dangerous and unhealthy contaminants that are polluting the City’s water sources, dams, ponds, rivers and streams? You build floating island filled with plants that can filter the nitrates, heavy metals and organic compounds that leak into the system and restore the body of water to pristine conditions.
This idea, which is a cost-effective and green solution for urban water and sanitation challenges, has earned Yolandi Schoeman from ecological services company, Baoberry, a R300 000 prize in the Green City Start-up Challenge.