Introduction to SDGs

For guidance on promoting sustainability and environmental goals, we looked to the Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). Our project is specifically related to five individual SDGs, which we identified with the help of Mr. Chen, a SDGs expert, in a meeting during the early months. : #3 (Good Health and Well-Being), #6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), #12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), #14 (Life Below Water), and #17 (Partnerships for the Goals), which #17 was added specifically under the suggestion of Professor Mindy Hung (YZ. Chen, personal communication, June 20, 2024) (M. Hung, personal communication, September 19th, 2024).Throughout the project, we focused on specific targets for each SDG, again under the suggestions of Mr. Chen, while connecting with other teams and experts for guidance on how these goals relate to our project. On top of that, our educational events and international collaborations help strengthen the connection between WAVEPLAST and a more sustainable, manageable future.

The Goals

Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being

WAVEPLAST & Goal 3

Figure 2: Official icon of SDG3

Figure 3: WAVEPLAST & SDG3

SDG 3 focuses heavily on reducing health risks and the possibility of illnesses (United Nations, 2023). PET plastics, either micro or macro plastics, are present in groundwater, drinking water, soils, and sediments. PET plastics in sources such as water, soil, and air are associated with irritation of the eyes and skin from contact, respiratory problems from inhalation, coughing or throat irritation, etc. (Dhaka et al., 2024). In addition, PET is widely used in the food packaging industry, such as in trays and coatings (International Life Sciences Institute, 2024). Combined with its dominant position in the beverage bottle market, these uses introduce illnesses such as food poisoning and digestive system issues (Dhaka et al., 2024; Nisticò, 2024). On top of that, Ms. Mariella Siña suggested to us that there have been discoveries of microplastics in human vein or artery blockages, meaning there is a potential correlation between microplastics and such blockages in the human body, posing more risks to health (M. Siña, personal communication, September 17, 2024).

Unlike other methods, such as physical and chemical degradation, biodegradation removes several potential risks, including harmful gas release and toxic products from physical degradation, as well as hazards from catalyst residues from chemical degradation (Dhaka et al., 2024). By increasing the efficiency of plastic degradation, we can improve the percentage of PET broken down by PETase and decrease the use of physical or chemical degradation, eliminating some of the potential health hazards to the human body.

Targets

Target 3.9 focuses on reducing illnesses from chemicals in the air, water, and soil. Specifically, decreasing unsafe water exposure, a potential consequence of PET and microplastics entering water sources, is an indicator for the target. By attempting to stop PET from entering water in the first place through recycling, we can help mitigate the health impacts associated with PET plastics.

Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

WAVEPLAST & Goal 6

Figure 4: Official icon of SDG6

Figure 5: WAVEPLAST & SDG6

SDG Goal 6 focuses on the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all (United Nations, 2023). The pervasive presence of microplastics in freshwater systems disrupts water quality, further affecting aquatic life and humanity (Relx SDG Resource Centre, 2024). Specifically, PET plastics impact water bodies during several stages of their lifecycle, including manufacturing, fabrication, operation, disposal, and recycling.

According to research, 12 million tonnes of plastic find their way into the ocean annually. Specifically, microplastic contamination in freshwater often originates from sources such as urban runoff, industrial discharges, and the fragmentation of larger plastic debris. Furthermore, their accumulation is exacerbated by smaller volumes and lower turbulence in freshwater bodies, leading to localized hotspots of contamination.

Despite its damaging production and accumulation, PET plastics have an overall low recycling rate, with fewer than 30% of plastic bottles in the U.S. collected for recycling. Of those collected, only one-third are turned back into bottles. The remaining 70% are incinerated, sent to landfills, or littered, disrupting waste management systems. This demonstrates the importance of effectively recycling PET plastics in achieving Goal 6.

On the other hand, in Taiwan, the plastic recycling rate is as high as 97% (Lai & Lee, 2022). However, it reached such high levels due to government funding and laws. Each year, the Taiwanese government puts an approximation of 525,707,000 NTD (~$16,435,300) into general recycling funding (Resource Circulation Administration Ministry of Environment, 2024), which means that this process still requires extra government funding as incentives. Therefore, it is still necessary for us to provide alternative incentives, in the form of increased degradation rates and hence profits, which helps incentivize companies in countries without government law influence. This demonstrates the importance of effectively recycling PET plastics to achieve Goal 6.

Targets

Target 6.3 focuses on improving water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping, and minimizing the release of hazardous chemicals and materials. It also aims to halve the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increase recycling and safe reuse globally (United Nations, 2023). The WAVEPLAST project targets this goal by enhancing the efficiency of plastic recycling and digesting plastics directly with our enzyme, reducing the amount of plastic waste disposed of in landfills or water bodies.

Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

WAVEPLAST & Goal 12

Figure 6: Official icon of SDG12

Figure 7: WAVEPLAST & SDG12

SDG 12 focuses on improving understanding of products and services' environmental and social impacts. Companies and consumers must realize how their production and consumption habits could negatively impact the environment (United Nations, 2023). Our desired product, with higher production efficiency and higher-quality PET plastics after recycling, would encourage companies to use bio-recycling instead of chemical recycling. On the consumer end, SDG 12 urges consumers to "be thoughtful about what you buy and choose a sustainable option whenever possible," encouraging consumers to use more sustainable products or products made by more sustainable methods (United Nations, 2023).

The predominant plastic recycling method is mechanical recycling (Joseph et al., 2024). Mechanical recycling is more cost-efficient than bio-recycling but causes more severe environmental impacts. Conversely, bio-recycling represents a new approach that is the most environmentally friendly and responsible method. Without relying on fossil fuels and with the ability to recycle even lower-quality PET plastic wastes into high-quality products akin to virgin PET, bio-recycling ensures a safer, more environmentally friendly approach. We aim to contribute to the circular economy by providing a maximized amount of plastics that are recycled, as opposed to the current statistics of 40% in landfills and 25% incinerated (Joseph et al., 2024).

Targets

Target 12.4 focuses on the management of all chemicals and wastes throughout their lifecycle. Specifically, it recognizes the importance of regulating waste products' releases to air, water, and soil. Our project aims to decrease the release of PET plastics into water sources and other environments by increasing the efficiency of upstream recycling, which increases the likelihood that companies recycle more PET. The increase in efficiency of PETases, furthermore, could give businesses an incentive to switch to bio-recycling from physical recycling, which produces waste chemicals released into the environment.

Target 12.5, on the other hand, focuses on reducing waste altogether through reducing, reusing, and recycling. Our methods of recycling PET therefore tie closely to this target — the increase in recycling rates helps reduce waste going into the environment directly.

Goal 14: Life Below Water

WAVEPLAST & Goal 14

Figure 8: Official icon of SDG14

Figure 9: WAVEPLAST & SDG14

Goal 14 focuses on solving human-caused issues that impact the sustainability of marine resources (United Nations, 2023). Alleviating plastic pollution is a significant part of ocean sustainability goals. A study in 2021 shows that PET plastics make up 44.7% of all single-serve beverage packaging in the U.S. and 12% of global solid waste (Benyathiar et al., 2024). Hence, it is crucial to mitigate the impact of PET plastics to improve marine sustainability.

According to research, soft drink industries produce around 20 to 34 billion PET bottles and end up in the ocean yearly (Oceana, 2024). These plastics are consumed by or become entangled with marine organisms, significantly decreasing their chances of survival and harming biodiversity. Microplastics concentrations in aquatic environments generally range from 10-100 ppm (Carmona-Valdivieso et al., 2024). In contrast, the U.S. FDA’s limit on PCBs found in microplastics is 0.2 ppm for juniors and two ppm for adults in fish and shellfish (Smith et al., 2024). Moreover, studies suggest that plastic production will increase by 40% in the next ten years, causing microplastic concentrations in the ocean to escalate (Plastic Soup Foundation, 2024). At this rate, ocean products and food sources may no longer be safe to consume shortly.

WAVEPLAST focuses on enhancing renewable recycling methods to prevent ocean plastic pollution from upstream sources. The project explores a bio-recycling method that degrades PET plastic into monomers with PETase enzymes. This method is renewable and causes little to no harm to the environment. Enhancing recycling efficiency means less PET waste will be improperly disposed of and end up in the ocean.

Targets

Indicator 14.1.1 specifically focuses on plastic debris density in the ocean. Microplastics are a form of plastic debris that is commonly found in oceans. Ocean organisms often consume this debris and remain in their bodies. WAVEPLAST aims to decrease the amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean by enhancing the process of plastic waste.

Goal 17 Partnerships for the goals

WAVEPLAST & Goal 17

Figure 10: Official icon of SDG17

Figure 11: WAVEPLAST & SDG17

SDG 17 focuses on strengthening implementation and Global Partnerships for sustainable development. Throughout the project, WAVEPLAST implements education and education by partnering with international teams, celebrating international sustainability-related holidays, hosting international SDGs-related events, and educating local communities on the importance and wide array of applications of the goals. Under the advice of Professor Mindy Hung, we decided to add SDG 17, connecting our educational events to a centralized idea.

Despite learning about SDGs from school or other sources, SDGs are not widely used daily. To reduce the distance between students and SDGs, it is necessary to introduce SDGs in ways that are different from traditional lectures. Instead of showing paragraphs about the SDGs, our team focused on introducing as many applications of the SDGs as possible by allowing different student-led groups, coming in the form of the postcard event, meetups with various teams, educational event invitations, and instagram posts and iGEM teams to teach how their SDGs are integrated into their projects and ideas.

Targets

Target 17.16 focuses on enhancing global and multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development (United Nations, 2023). We shared our project ideas by contacting experts from the field and talking with various stakeholders on both SDGs and sustainable development of plastics and plastic pollution. We received expert feedback on the implementation of our project on a large scale.

Target 17.17 focuses on encouraging the promotion of partnerships, specifically public partnerships. Through the postcard event and our educational event designs, we created spaces for international interaction between communities, allowing easy access to various projects through a straightforward portal. Furthermore, we received partnerships with academic researchers, exchanging ideas and experimental resources, whether in the form of enzymatic modeling methods guiding (Mr. Chao-li Huang) or receiving materials for further testing (Prof. Grace Ng).

Integration of SDGs

Adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, the UNSDGs are widely recognized as a guideline for sustainability in our world today (United Nations, 2023). In the early stages of our project, we identified relevant goals based on the potential impacts of microplastics and PET plastics. Through these goals, our team wishes to contribute to the global community, inside and outside of iGEM.

For example, building on our previous team's foundation for collaborations, we decided to take SDGs and inclusivity one step further by initiating the 2024 Postcard Collaboration event. Engaging teams worldwide, we exchanged and translated postcards that highlighted our SDGs. By translating postcards into more languages and displaying them in each team’s local area, we allowed our projects to be introduced to the international audience. In contrast, our local communities gained access to many more creative projects worldwide. The postcard event and our educational events featuring the UNSDGs help communities near us engage and learn about these global goals.

Meeting With Stakeholders

Meeting with Dr.Chen

On July 20th, we held a meeting with SDG expert Dr. Chen. After briefly describing our project, we started introducing the SDGs we identified relevant to our project, which are 3.9.2, 3.9.3, 6.3, 12.4, and 14.1. He also found 12.5 and 14.8 relevant. However, he suggested we stick with the SDGs that have more robust connections. He also recommended we read the Global Plastics Treaty to see if we will solve any problem every other country is trying to solve. Lastly, he briefly introduced the circular economy and suggested that we connect it with our project. (YZ. Chen, personal communication, July 20, 2024).

By giving us feedback on the project presentation and the SDGs, Mr. Chen helped us identify more SDGs relevant to our project and also helped us more clearly link our project with the SDGs we identified. He also suggested what kinds of information we could find that would help our project. This meeting helped a lot since we learned much about SDGs and the circular economy, which we can then apply more clearly to our project.

Meeting with Professor Mindy Hung

A meeting with SDGs expert Professor Mindy Hung was hosted on September 19th, 2024, to consult on project sustainability aims, clarify SDG goals, and ask for other potential goals of focus. Professor Mindy Hung is a professional who analyzes sustainable practices in projects and industries. Therefore, her opinions and suggestions benefit our project's storyline and focus.

During the meeting, we discussed our current SDG focuses with Professor Hung, including Goals 3, 6, 12, and 14. Professor Hung concluded that we should restructure our presentation with a more apparent motivation and initial thought process. She suggested that the presentation should start with clarifying the chosen SDGs and the problem, then shift focus onto experimental design and results. Moreover, she thinks that the current project lacks justification for social impacts. Hence, we concluded that an additional SDG should be added to the project, SDG 17, Partnership for Sustainable Development; applying Professor Hung’s suggestions, our project became more apparent with the storyline and motivations. We also covered the social aspect of the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) goals, for which we lacked justification before this meeting (M. Hung, personal communication, September 19th, 2024).

Meetings, Collaborations & Events

Through a series of meetings with iGEM teams and experts and hosting international and local events, our team aims to communicate, demonstrate, and exchange ideas regarding the goals.

In meetings with iGEM Outaouais, iGEM RVCE Bangalore, iGEM UCM, iGEM VIT, and iGEM IISER-TVM, we discussed our goals while they shared theirs. In the online event of iGEM Jamburrito hosted by iGEM Stony Brooks, we presented our project with our SDGs to iGEM Northeastern, iGEM MSBT Michigan, and iGEM Lund. We also introduced and talked with teams about SDGs during the TGEM event, where Taiwanese teams, including Taipei-KCISLK-V2, Formosa101, CCU-Taiwan, NTHU-Taiwan, and NTU-Taiwan.

Figure 14: TGEM Booth Presentation

On top of that, we also hosted a variety of events regarding SDG education. The biggest highlight goes to the SDGs collaboration event in our school library, where student organizations of our school gather and share their goals and SDGs.

Another highlight in SDGs goes to our postcard collaboration. Inspired by the previous KCIS-Xigang-Taipei team, the Postcard exchange invites teams to share their SDGs and their projects internationally through postcards and international displays. With all these events, we are attempting to increase public awareness of the SDGs, and ensure our project is designed for a more sustainable future.

Meetings with iGEM teams

Online meetings

Figure 15: Outaouais iGEM team meeting

Our very first meeting was with the Outaouais iGEM team on July 25th, whom we discussed SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13: Climate Action, and SDG 4: Quality Education with. They became the first participants of our postcard exchange event (iGEM Outaouais, personal communication, July 25, 2024).

Figure 16: RVCE 2025 iGEM team meeting

We had a meeting with iGEM RVCE Bangalore 2025 on July 29th. We introduced to them our SDGs, and gave them insights on how to apply SDGs to their HP, education, and project when they join the iGEM competition next year (iGEM RVCE Bangalore, personal communication, July 29, 2024).

Figure 17: UCM iGEM team meeting

Our next meeting was with the UCM team on August 6th. During the meeting, we discussed SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 13: Climate Action, and SDG 15: Life on Land. We later discovered that we shared SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production and SDG 14: Life Below Water. They also joined our postcard exchange project (iGEM UCM, personal communication, August 6, 2024).

Figure 18: VIT iGEM team meeting

We discussed our projects with the VIT team from Vellore on August 12th. Our projects shared SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation and SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, while their team had SDG 15: Life on Land and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. They became a participant of the postcard project too (iGEM VIT, personal communication, August 12, 2024).

Figure 19: IISER-TVM team Meeting

We also discussed with the IISER-TVM team on August 15th, where we learned that they are working on SDG 4: Quality Education, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 15: Life on Land and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. They decided to participate in the postcard event, too (iGEM IISER-TVM, personal communication, August 15, 2024)!

iGEM x Library Collaboration

Figure 20, 21: Presenting our project and SDGs

On September 20th, we hosted a school-wide UNSDGs synergy event to promote the SDGs alongside other SDG-related organizations and clubs from our school. Each club created a poster representing its purpose and relation to the SDGs. Additionally, we prepared presentations to show students how each club contributes to the UNSDGs, teaching them how they can apply these principles in their daily lives and how they can join our teams.

The participating clubs and their corresponding SDGs include:

• KC Health Council: SDG 3
• KC Model United Nations: SDGs 16, 11, 3, 17
• IURA: SDGs 1, 2, 4, 5, 13, 14
• Insiders Production: SDG 4
• Code.org CS Ambassadors / Computer Science Honor Society: SDG 4
• Psychsight Youth Psychology Team: SDG 3
• Green4Tomorrow: SDGs 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
• KCGIN: SDGs 3, 4, 5, 10

Through this event, students of all ages in our school can expand their knowledge of SDGs and the clubs in our schools that actively promote them. With a better understanding of the implications of SDGs in individual student projects, many students were inspired to join a club or potentially start their own project. This also contributes to our project’s connection with SDG 17, where we are promoting the SDGs on both local and international scales while increasing SDGs accessibility.

Event Evaluation and Success

Figure 22, 23: Other SDG-related groups present promoting their SDGs and projects

The event attracted over 150 students who actively participated in presentations about UNSDGs and the clubs. They participated in the activities made by each club to have a better understanding of SDGs and reflected on how they can contribute to the SDGs within their community. Students stated, “I realized the importance of protecting our planet and found different approaches to educate people on the different SDGs”. Moreover, we encouraged 11 students to register to do bacterial inoculation with us in the lab. In the lab, the students gain access to basic techniques, to learn more about our project and the associated SDGs through hands-on experience.

2024 Postcard Collaboration SDGs

For the postcard event, every team shares their project information and the SDGs they are relating to. Teams then display postcards in their local scenes, allowing each team’s projects and SDGs to reach international ranges. Furthermore, international teams displayed each other’s postcards in their local language, further increasing accessibility of the projects to the public. We hope that through such displays, audiences worldwide will be able to learn about the various methods by which environmental and sustainability challenges could be tackled. Below are the collected postcards and their corresponding SDGs:

Click to see the backside of the postcards!

English 中文 bahasa Indonesia 粵語 Español Νέα Ελληνικά Türkçe Italiano हिन्दी മലയാളം Polski Русский язык 한국어 اُردُو

KCIS-Xiugang-Taipei

CCU

VIT Vellore

MSP_iGem

PETabytes_iGem

iiser_tvm

Taipei wego iGem

TEC CEM

UCM spain

UFlorida iGem

 

 

 

 

 

igem_cityu - bevatech

As above, the postcards cover a total of 11 out of the 17 SDGs, including SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing, SDG 4: Quality Education, SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, SDG 10: Reduced Inequality, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13: Climate Action, SDG 14: Life Below Water, SDG 15: Life on Land, and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals.

The wide variety of goals the postcards represented not only allows access and education of these SDGs, but also contributes to SDG 17 itself — by partnering internationally to create an environment where information regarding sustainability and how sustainability could be applied to a variety of contexts and projects can be easily accessible in the global community via translations and displays.

Instagram Post

We utilized our social media account to increase public awareness of SDGs and our project. We included information about specific problems and goals of each SDG through animated figures and drawings, making them easily accessible for any viewer. In one month (addressed to September 2024), our Instagram page had 8000 views and 115 interactions, indicating that we successfully spread information regarding the SDGs. Moreover, we specifically mentioned international events such as World Water Day to increase public knowledge of these critical events. The Instagram posts are also used to advertise educational events such as the iGEM x Library Collaboration to draw more attention and participants.

Citations

Benyathiar, P., Kumar, P., Carpenter, G., Brace, J., & Mishra, D. K. (2024). Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottle-to-bottle recycling for the beverage industry: A review. Journal of Recycling, 10(2), 215-227. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9231234/

Bhardwaj, L. K., Rath, P., Yadav, P., & Gupta, U. (2024). Microplastic contamination, an emerging threat to the freshwater environment: A systematic review. Environmental Systems Research, 13(1), 1-10. https://environmentalsystemsresearch.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40068-024-00338-7

Carmona-Valdivieso, D. E., Valdivieso, T., & Carmona-Galindo, V. D. (2024). Detection of secondary microplastics in an aquatic mesocosm by means of object-based image analysis. Sustainability Science and Engineering, 2(3), 233-245. https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8929/2/3/22

Dhaka, V., Singh, S., Anil, A. G., Naik, T. S. S. K., Garg, S., Samuel, J., Kumar, M., Ramamurthy, P. C., & Singh, J. (2024). Occurrence, toxicity, and remediation of polyethylene terephthalate plastics: A review. Journal of Environmental Management, 295(4), 12345. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8755403/

Helmer, J. (2024). A new report details the climate, health, and human rights impacts of a plastic bottle. Foodprint Blog. https://foodprint.org/blog/impacts-of-a-plastic-bottle/

International Life Sciences Institute. (2024). Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for food packaging applications. https://www.pac.gr/bcm/uploads/1-polyethylene-terephthalate-(pet)-for-food-packaging-applications.pdf

Joseph, T. M., Azat, S., Ahmadi, Z., Jazani, O. M., Esmaeili, A., Kianfar, E., Haponiuk, J., & Thomas, S. (2024). Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling: A review. Advanced Industrial Waste Management, 33(5), 456-467. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666016424000677

Lai, Y.Y., & Lee, Y.M. (2022). Management strategy of plastic wastes in Taiwan. Sustainable Environment Research, 32(11). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42834-022-00123-0

Nisticò, R. (2024). Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in the packaging industry. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 285, 125-135. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0142941820310333

Oceana. (2024). A 10% increase in refillables can reduce ocean PET plastic pollution by 7.6 billion bottles. https://europe.oceana.org/press-releases/10-increase-refillables-can-reduce-ocean-pet-plastic-pollution-76/

Ocean Conservancy. (2023). Microplastics facts & figures. https://oceanconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Microplastics-Fact-Sheet-FINAL-2.3.23.pdf

Plastic Soup Foundation. (2024). More plastic than fish. https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/plastic-problem/plastic-soup/more-plastic-than-fish/

Relx SDG Resource Centre. (2024). Microplastics. https://sdgresources.relx.com/microplastics

Surfers Against Sewage. (2024). Plastic pollution: Facts & figures. https://www.sas.org.uk/plastic-pollution/plastic-pollution-facts-figures/

Smith, M., Love, D. C., Rochman, C. M., & Neff, R. A. (2024). Microplastics in seafood and the implications for human health. Environmental Health Perspectives, 122(10), 102-117. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6132564/

United Nations. (2023). The 17 goals. https://sdgs.un.org/goal

環境部資源循環署 [Resource Circulation Administration, Ministry of Environment]. (2024). 中華民國 113 年度中央政府總預算案環境部資源循環署單位預算 [Budget of the Resource Recycling Administration, Ministry of Environment of Taiwan (R.O.C), 2024]. Resource Circulation Administration, Ministry of Environment.