The winners of the 2019 Victorian Design Challenge have today been announced by the National Gallery of Victoria. An annual competition that sees artists form multidisciplinary teams to apply design to target real-world problems, this year’s theme was the reduction, recovery and elimination of waste. This is the first year that categories for Tertiary and Secondary/Primary School students have been introduced.

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The winning team in the Professional category was Studio Periscope, made up of Lisa Oaten, Robert Sim and George Berry. Winning $15,000 and assorted NGV Prize Packs, they produced a piece of playground equipment called Rollie, which allows students to aerate compost while it is used. Resembling a giant hamster wheel, Rollie aims to address the issue of food waste by educating future generations about the value of food through aerobic ‘hot’ composting.

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology student Maddison Ryder was named the winner in the Tertiary category for her single-use plates, receiving $5,000 and workshop and mentoring opportunities. Called ‘Lettuce Eat’, the plates are created from waste iceberg lettuce and are instantly biodegradable, commenting on behaviours of conspicuous consumption and food waste.

Twelve students from the Mill Park Library Makers...