The theme "Waste Nothing" had been selected to help students, residents, and interns engage with the massive issues of climate in a more manageable and pragmatic way. While the most obvious issue stemming from this theme was that of waste and pollution reduction, there were other ways to ​conceptualize 'waste nothing.' Students had been encouraged to look at how waste products were created through hospital operations, the cafeterias at AKU, their own eating and cleaning habits at home and in hostels, in their communities, through economic activity in wider society, and much more.

Moving towards the alternate conception of wasting nothing—this had triggered students' minds towards thinking of all the valuable resources that were wasted, and which could be conserved and reused, on a regular basis in their lives—e.g., water, electricity, gas, oil, food, and so much more.

The Challenge consisted of an annual educational and awareness campaign combined with an annual submissions-based competition.

Participants were provided support in the forms of an Ideation Sprint, advisory sessions with subject matter experts, field visits to AKU and external facilities of power, water, and waste management.

Collection of plastics and recycling into durable products - Team Relast

Ridesharing app and leveraging people-based solutions - Team Climatica

Eco-friendly, biodegradable sanitary pads - Team ThinkGreen​

Conserving water using tap aerators - BVS Parsi High School

Recycling of cigarette butts - AKHSS Karimabad

Making seed paper to address deforestation - Bahria College Karsaz​