Students turn superstitions into a recycling tool

An innovative project combining folk traditions with modern environmental messaging has won the "Student Innovation Challenge / What's Next?” competition, organized at the University of Bucharest.

Tellingly titled "You break the curse when you recycle,” the initiative proposed by five students from the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences relies on the influence of superstitions in Romanian behavior to encourage the recycling of old electrical appliances.

"Because superstitions are still a powerful factor in how people make decisions, we wanted to use them to our advantage to build an educational and advertising campaign with real impact,” the winning team members explained.

• Creative ideas for a real problem

The competition brought together more than 50 students from several universities in Bucharest, who proposed eco-tech-business solutions aimed at extending the lifespan of household appliances and ensuring the proper recycling of electronic waste.

The event was organized by the Environ Association, in partnership with LG Electronics Romania, and aimed to stimulate innovation among young people.

The jury evaluated the projects based on criteria such as originality, clarity, relevance, impact, and feasibility, with total prizes amounting to euro5,000.

• "You break the curse when you recycle”: tradition meets marketing

The winning project is based on the idea that broken household items are associated, in popular belief, with negative energy or bad luck.

The students identified beliefs such as:

broken appliances "block positive energy”;

old devices "retain negative emotions” from previous owners.

By reinterpreting these superstitions, the campaign proposes a shift in perspective: recycling becomes not only a responsible act, but also a "liberating” one.

The team - Andrei Pîrnog, Alexandra Georgiana Răduţ, Sellin Saban, Alexandru Vlad Sălăjean and Miruna-Ioana Voican - was rewarded with a full experience at UNTOLD 2026.

• Green taxes and smart applications

The competition also highlighted other ideas with potential:

"Green Tax” - proposed by students from the Faculty of Administration and Business, offering tax reductions for those who recycle;

"Beyond Habits” - an initiative focused on recycling chargers;

"ReVibe” - an AI-based application estimating appliance repair costs;

"AgriClear” - a technical solution for cleaning soils affected by electronic waste;

"ReRoot” - an app that turns recycling into a socially valuable act, allowing users to "adopt” a real tree.

• Recycling, an ongoing challenge

The initiative is part of a broader program run by the Environ Association, which aims to increase the collection rate of electronic waste, particularly among students.

One concrete objective is equipping student dormitories with dedicated collection points. In fact, 11 dormitories of the University of Bucharest already benefit from such facilities.

The projects presented in the competition point to a shift in mindset: young people no longer see recycling merely as an obligation, but as an opportunity for innovation and creative communication.

At a time when electronic waste is one of the fastest-growing sources of pollution globally, such initiatives could play an essential role in changing behaviors-not through constraints, but through ideas that culturally resonate with the public.