Please consider donating to the Zelaki Project to help protect endangered wildlife in Ethiopia from the plastic pollution crisis, build international student partnerships in engineering, and create revenue opportunities for rural communities! Your support will provide us with the funds needed to 1️⃣ purchase materials and equipment for small-scale recycling machines, 2️⃣ bring students from all over Ethiopia to the capital of Addis Ababa to create connections and build machines, and 3️⃣ allow students from ASU to pair with Ethiopian students to co-create recycling solutions. Link is in our bio! /f/zelaki
@asuengineering@ewbasu #asuengineering
Zelaki Project had a great time at the @practicalartphx 18th anniversary party! We had items such as flower pots, plates, carabiners, and more made from recycled plastic waste and painted by students auctioned through raffle tickets and donations! 🌍♻️ We are so close to reaching our donation goal of $10,000 for Ethiopia, you can contribute through the link in our bio! Thank you so much to everyone who came and spent their time to help support Zelaki Project and Practical Arts!
Hello friends!
Put Saturday, April 25th, 5–8pm on your calendars for a party and Zelaki Project fundraiser at Practical Art (5070 N. Central Ave, Phoenix). The Zelaki Project is joining Practical Art’s 18th anniversary celebration to raise money for our student collaborations in Ethiopia this summer. Great space, great people, great music, great art, great snacks...we’ll have it all.
If you can’t come—or even if you can—please consider supporting Zelaki Project students directly via our GoFundMe and sharing with your friends (link in bio)! We’re in a 30-day push to raise $6,000 to support a collaborative program in Ethiopia that brings together engineering students from ASU, the Addis Ababa College of Technology and the Built Environment, and two rural Ethiopian universities to tackle global sustainability challenges. Now in our third year, this project creates opportunities for students to work across disciplines, cultures, and real-world contexts, but rising fuel costs are increasing the financial barriers for both ASU- and Ethiopia-based students.
What your donation will do:
→ $500 = contributes a critical subsidy toward one international flight
→ $300 = gets a student from rural Ethiopia to Addis Ababa to join the program
→ $100 = provides student lunches for a week
→ $25 = moves one student one step closer to joining us
Every contribution directly supports student participation in this collaborative work. Thank you and we hope to see you at the party!
Another workshop day!! Zelaki Project worked on creating flower pots from polypropylene through injection molding, as well as finishing sorting out plastic! Another half of our team also worked on disassembling and ensuring quality of our shredder basic. 🌍♻️ #sustainability #zelakiproject
☀️ Today Zelaki Project hit the workshop again to sort and shred plastic, as well as using the injection molder to create more flowerpots and attempting to create a fidget spinner! It is always fun brainstorming product ideas to help limit plastic waste. ♻️ #ReduceReuseRecycle #asuengineering
🌎 Zelaki Project got back to the workshop this weekend! New and returning members collaborated on creating flower pots through injection molding and shredding plastic water bottles. ♻️ Here’s a video compilation of some of the work we got done and our process.
How many plastic bottles do you think there are at one college football game? 🤔 We collected enough water bottles to fill a 77 gallon container (about 20 lbs worth) in an hour walking through just one small section of the stands! Throughout all the stands, there was probably 1000 pounds of plastic bottles 😮 come find us at the next home game to put your bottle towards our project!
Shiferaw Asrat, owner of Limalimo Ecolodge (set just outside the Simien Mountains), has been one of our project partners since its inception. Now his kids are sporting our merch and talking about the importance of #recycling ♻️ Thanks for reminding us that solving plastic pollution is as much about recycling infrastructure as it is about education ‼️
@asuengineering@ewbasu #asuengineering
🌍 The @zelakiproject team recently traveled to Shanghai, China, to compete in the Global Environment Solutions Challenge, or GESC, hosted by Tongji University. This year’s theme focused on one of the world’s most urgent issues: plastic pollution.
More than 600 teams from over 170 universities across 80+ countries participated. Representing Arizona State University and Engineers Without Borders, the Fulton Schools team was the only U.S. delegation to reach the semifinals and finals—earning second prize overall. 🇺🇸🏆
The Zelaki project, a scalable and community-centered plastic recycling initiative, is powered by student leadership and driven by global collaboration. The team says GESC was an invaluable platform to sharpen its communication skills, gain international perspectives and engage in meaningful dialogue on sustainable engineering solutions.
We’re proud to represent ASU and to be part of a global engineering community working toward a cleaner, more sustainable future. ♻️🌱 #GlobalImpact #ASUEngineering #SustainableSolutions #EngineersWithoutBorders
Over 600 teams from over 170 universities and over 80 countries competed, and @zelakiproject took 2nd place at the Global Environment Solutions Challenge 🥈
Our team met at Tongji University in Shanghai 🇨🇳 to participate in the competition where students come together to share innovative solutions to plastic pollution 🫶♻️ We are grateful for the opportunity to share our project and honored to be awarded second prize.
@asuengineering@ewbasu #asuengineering
