New Delhi: Aiming to explore solutions for use of waste in creation or manufacturing of toys, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched a competition ‘Swachh Toycathon’ on Monday.
Officials said that in response to the Prime Minister’s clarion call for making the toy industry environment friendly, the Ministry is taking a step towards achieving circularity in the toy sector.
Under the National Action Plan for Toys, it launched Swachh Toycathon, a competition for new ideas to transform waste into toys.
This competition is being launched under the ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’, a fortnight of activities to galvanize action around Swachhata from September 17, Seva Diwas, till October 2, Swachhata Diwas.
Secretary, MoHUA, Manoj Joshi launched the Swachh Toycathon by unveiling the online platform on MyGov portal and releasing the toolkit.
Speaking on the occasion, the official urged the creative minds to come up with innovative solutions that meet the growing demand for toys on one hand and address the impacts of solid-waste on the other.
Prof. Uday Athvankar, Prof. Manish Jain from IIT Gandhinagar, and Vidyun Goel from Toy Bank spoke about toy-games design, cognitive science, and their views on the effect of the initiative on the toy industry during the occasion.
The Centre for Creative Learning, IIT Gandhinagar is MoHUA’s Knowledge Partner for the initiative, they will be providing support on aspects of pedagogy and creativity.
The Swachh Toycathon is a national competition for individuals and groups. It is based on three broad themes including ‘Fun and Learn’ that seeks ideas for design and early prototype of toys from waste at home, workplace and surroundings, ‘Use and Enjoy’ that seeks ideas for design and models of games and play in the park/open spaces made from waste and ‘New and Old’ that seeks ideas and solutions for circularity in toy industry.
The competition seeks entries of designs of toys and play-zones using waste and recycled material, prototypes of eco-friendly toys and packaging, and other innovative ideas rethinking the toy industry.
–IANS