Delhi Teen named by UN to 2020 Class of Young Leaders for SDGs

Indians can once again be proud of their young talents in the country. Udit Singhal, an 18 year-old boy from India has been named by the United Nations to the 2020 group of young leaders for Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), the highest profile recognition opportunity at the world body for youngsters who are leading efforts to combat the world’s most pressing issues.

Singhal has been named to the 2020 Class of 17 Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He is the founder of Glass2Sand, a zero-waste ecosystem that addresses the growing menace of glass waste in Delhi.

Through the initiative, empty glass bottles are prevented from being dumped into landfills, where they won’t decompose for a million years, and are crushed into commercially valuable sand, the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth said in a statement on Friday.

Singhal was a student at The British School in New Delhi when he invented the Glass2Sand project in late 2018 when collection of bottles had become unviable for waste collectors due to dropping demand, because large storage spaces were needed and the transport costs were high.

According to Singhal’s profile in his website, the Glass2Sand initiative has stopped over 8000 bottles from being dumped in landfills and produced 4,815 kilograms of high-grade silica sand so far
The Young Leader of SDGs initiative looks for young minds between the ages of 18 and 29 years old to represent the diverse voice of young people from every region of the world.

The 2020 Class of 17 Young Leaders includes representatives from Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Ireland, Liberia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Senegal, Turkey, Uganda and the United States.