Katarina Ponjavić is a final-year student of Dental Medicine at the Faculty of Dentistry in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This young aspiring surgeon invented a device for medical and infectious waste disposal that received international patent protection from the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva.

Eldar Alić is a young farmer from Kalesija in north-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. He founded Nutri Pelet, a company that produces ecological manure pellets from unprocessed manure. Alić advocates for healthy living and practical, eco-friendly solutions to better manage earth’s limited, natural resources.

Anastasiya Martynenko is a 33- year-old eco-activist and founder of the NGO o’Zero, which teaches people how to live in an environmentally friendly way. Over time the idea spread, and the now well-known Zero Waste Alliance was born. The Alliance operates in different cities across Ukraine. Last autumn, Martynenko and partners opened the first physical zero waste store in Ukraine.

Milena Zindovic is an urban planner and gender expert and member of the Association of Women Architects in Serbia. Zindovic, with the support of UN Women studied current waste management practices in Serbian households to understand the role of women in both waste creation and management. The study will be used by UN Women to create targeted campaigns to raise awareness of waste management and climate action among women and their communities.