18-yr-old named to UN 2020 group of young leaders for his glass to sand idea
UNITED NATIONS: Udit Singhal, an 18-year-old youngster from India, has been named by the United Nations to the 2020 cohort of young leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals, the highest profile recognition opportunity at the world body for youngsters who are leading efforts to combat the world’s most pressing issues.
Singhal has been named to the 2020 Class of 17 Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He is the founder of Glass2Sand, a zero-waste ecosystem that addresses the growing menace of glass waste in Delhi. Through the initiative, empty glass bottles are prevented from being dumped into landfills, where they won’t decompose for a million years and are crushed into commercially valuable sand, the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth said in a statement on Friday.
“As a Young Leader for the SDGs, I will be an active agent of change. I hope to be able to encourage communities to embrace a better civic sense to create sustainable living spaces — like when mountain-high landfills are detonated,” Singhal said in the statement. According to Singhal’s profile on his website, the student at The British School in New Delhi conceived the Glass2Sand project in late 2018 when collection of bottles had become unviable for waste collectors due to dropping demand, because large storage spaces were needed and the transport costs were high.
“As the UN marks its 75th anniversary during unprecedented times, the 2020 Young Leaders for the SDGs are a clear example of how young people are leading the way in shaping a more sustainable and inclusive future for all,” the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth Jayathma Wickramanayake said. The 2020 Class of 17 Young Leaders includes representatives from Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Ireland, Liberia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Senegal, Turkey, Uganda and the United States.