the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Mahwah NJ, A group of student entrepreneurs developed a winning conservation prototype, taking home a national title and a 10,000 dollar cash prize to scale their prototype ahead of the World competition.
Ramapo College of New Jersey’s (RCNJ) Enactus club won the national “1 Race 4 Oceans” competition and will now represent the United States in the World Cup in The Netherlands this fall. RCNJ’s student team was one of 172 that competed in this year’s challenge to devise the best entrepreneurial solution to ocean conservation. The team’s winning design, the “EcoBob,” is a biodegradable fishing bobber and whipping knot that provides an alternative to traditional bobbers and lines, the latter of which can take up to 600 years to degrade.
The UN reports that close to 40% of the ocean is heavily affected by pollution, depleted fisheries, loss of coastal habitats, and other human activities. There is an average of 13,000 pieces of plastic litter in every square kilometer of the ocean, and as much as 10 % of the plastic comes from fishing gear.
The “EcoBob” is completely biodegradable and water life safe, meaning that if the fishing gear gets dumped, intentionally or unintentionally, it won’t contribute to plastic pollution or ocean acidification. The bobber prototype is constructed of invasive bamboo and has a user-friendly design that the team hopes consumers will prefer over alternatives. The RCNJ Enactus team received a $10,000 prize to continue developing the prototype for the Enactus World Cup this October in the Netherlands.
I love Wing Bikes. Use my referral link to get a discount now! http://wingbikes.refr.cc/
What a waste of engineering talent.
They could be solving actual problems.