4Mins Read Swiss food conglomerate Nestlé has launched a new pea-based milk, as the plant-based dairy alternative scene continues to heat up. The new brand, Wunda, is set to launch in several European countries before rolling out across the continent, where existing labels like Alpro and Oatly are currently dominating the market. Nestlé has introduced Wunda, a […]
4Mins Read GROW, the AgFunder-backed food and agri-tech focused accelerator, has just welcomed its new cohort of startups set to join its program in Singapore. These startups have been selected for their food chain resilience and sustainability solutions, innovating novel foods and ingredients, alternative proteins and fixing the key issues of food waste, decarbonisation and more. GROW’s […]
3Mins Read New York and Singapore-based accelerator and venture capital firm Big Idea Ventures (BIV) has raised US$50 million in its final close of its debut fund dedicated to alternative protein innovators. The New Protein Fund I, which was completed earlier in March, saw Japanese food giant Meiji join as a new investor alongside existing big-name backers […]
3Mins Read Ethical natural beauty and baby product company The Honest Co. saw its shares jump 44% in its trading debut, as investors show optimism over the rising conscious consumerism trend. The brand, co-founded by Jessica Alba, saw its market value rise to US$2.1 billion at the end of trading. Shares of The Honest Co. soared 44% […]
Packaging is one of the biggest contributors to plastic waste – but our modern society just can’t seem to cut it out. Can these companies help?
Living packaging-free is no easy feat, with almost every product on supermarket shelves, at clothing stores, and in our online deliveries all coming in either plastic bags, wraps, envelopes, paper parcels, or cardboard boxes. There’s never been more of a need for real, sustainable packaging solutions.
Enter this new batch of startups below, who are dreaming up circular models to solve the problem. Instead of making packaging less environmentally damaging, they want to close the loop entirely, ensuring that it can be reused or renewed. Plus, they’re making these options convenient, easy to use, and scalable too – these innovators are going to be the ones to watch. Let’s take a look.
Source: Olive
1. Olive
Olive wants to “unbox” every online delivery shipment that arrives at your door. Founded by Nate Faust, who formerly headed Walmart’s American e-commerce supply chain and co-founded Jet.com, the young U.S.-based startup makes it super easy for consumers to get their online fashion hauls delivered to them in reusable cardboard-free “shippers” that are made from recycled plastic bottles, pallets, cups and polyester. Olive partners with labels like Adidas, Alo and Rag & Bone, so that all users have to do is to sign up (for free), download their browser extension or use the Olive app to browse through affiliated brands and get their stuff delivered packaging-free on a weekly basis.
Want to know more about Olive? Read our feature here.
Source: Pakoorang
2. Packoorang
Packoorang is a Norwegian company specialising in reusable packaging that can be recirculated for more than 100 trips. Their reusable bags are made out of recycled bottles and off-cuts of polyester from clothing factories, and are padded with a layer that protects all the contents inside. Brands working with Packoorang simply tell the firm how many mailers they need each month, and after they’re shipped out, customers can return them at their nearest collection point. Packoorang then cleans and sanitises them, before sending them back to their clients. Plus, the startup works with carbon offsetting projects around the world to ensure that all their deliveries are net-zero.
Source: Ridwell
3. Ridwell
Ridwell is tackling the difficult-to-recycle products, making it easier for people without access to good recycling infrastructure or reusable solutions to live sustainably. Based in Seattle, the company gives their monthly subscribers bags to store light bulbs, plastic wrap, threads and batteries, and all you have to do is to sort your waste out into these categories. Then, Ridwell swings by to pick them up from your door. The company then tries to divert as much of the waste to reuse or upcycling projects, or sends them to the appropriate recycling station to make sure it’s being processed properly. Ridwell also helps out other businesses who want to try out a circular packaging model, offering a delivery and pick-up service to bring mailers back to their clients’ warehouses.
Source: BarePack
4. BarePack
Singapore startup BarePack is taking aim at the enormous waste left behind by takeaway and food deliveries, and replacing single-use packaging with their reusable containers. So far, the company has partnered with major food delivery platforms in Singapore like GrabFood, Deliveroo and FoodPanda, making it possible for restaurant partners to send out food orders to customers who have signed up with BarePack to get their dishes delivered in BarePack’s silicone FlexBox or stainless steel KindCup. Customers can then return the reusables to any of the city’s 120 drop-off points or request a home pick-up service from BarePack, who will professionally clean and reuse the items.
Want to know more about BarePack? Read our Q&A with co-founder Roxane Uzureau here.
Source: Returnity
5. Returnity
Californian B2B startup Returnity provides reusable packaging solutions to companies and organisations who want to ditch single-use items. The company offers a range of reusables, such as mailers, shipper boxes, garment bags, envelopes and duffels, all of which can be customised for brands. They also make it super easy for businesses to switch to reusables with its easily-integrated logistics system that includes cleaning, repairing and replacing its reusable products. Some of the online marketplaces and brands that Returnity has worked with include Rent The Runway, Borobabi and ThredUp.
Source: Bumerang
6 Bumerang
Bumerang is a Barcelona-based company that offers reusable takeaway packaging to food businesses, the first of its kind to land in Spain. Restaurant partners can send their dishes out in “Bumerangs” to be delivered to their hungry customers, and when they’re done, these containers can be returned to any of the company’s affiliated food establishments. Bumerang then picks them up, sanitises them, and sends these containers back to restaurants to be reused again and again.
Source: Reusables
7. Reusables
Reusables is a container sharing platform, which enables all takeout food to come in sustainable stainless steel “vessels” that can be used thousands of times. All users have to do is to sign up to the Vancouver-based company’s platform and order their meal from restaurant partners, and once done, return the containers to Reusables’ listed drop-off points within two weeks. Reusables then handles the collection and cleaning, making it easy for both diners and businesses to go zero-waste. They’ve even recently partnered with bike deliverers Shift to launch a zero-emission pick-up option for customers.
4Mins Read Blue Farm, a Berlin-based food tech, has set its sights on stirring up the oat milk market with its even more sustainable product. Its first product, an Oat Base, allows consumers and foodservice to mix their own oat milk right before they consume it, cutting out extra packaging and the carbon emissions from transporting heavy […]
4Mins Read Co-op has announced its plan to “tackle the plant-based price gap” as part of its goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2040. The commitment will see the British retail chain invest over £1.7 million (US$2.36 million) to slash the cost of more than two dozen vegan products, a move catering to its increasingly flexitarian consumer […]
4Mins Read Thrive Market, the American membership-based online retailer for natural and organic products, has set its sights on becoming the “world’s first climate positive grocery store” by 2025. In addition to going “beyond carbon neutral”, the company has pledged to become plastic-free and double down on their food access, regenerative agriculture and social impact initiatives. Los […]
4Mins Read Key regulatory and policy changes in the U.S. and E.U. are set to give organic agriculture a major boost. While the European Commission has set aside a plan to ramp up organic production to 25% of its farmland, a U.S. federal court ruling has decided that hydroponic produce can be certified as organic. In March, […]
4Mins Read Renewable energy sources have the potential to supply the entire world’s energy demand 100-times over, according to a new report. As the cost of wind and solar power continues to fall, Carbon Tracker analysts say that we are now “entering a new epoch” where fossil fuels can be replaced entirely, making way for a net-zero […]
4Mins Read Impossible Foods has won a court ruling over the use of heme in its plant-based burgers, the key additive that makes its alternative “bleed” and taste meaty. Objections made by a food safety group about the use of the GMO ingredient was struck down, after the court decided that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s […]
4Mins Read Warren Buffett helped to reject a shareholder resolution that would push his multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway to inform investors about climate risks. In addition to defending the dirty oil and gas industry, the billionaire CEO also tore down a resolution that called for greater diversity and inclusion efforts, putting the old-fashioned firm out of step […]
4Mins Read Humanity must act now on climate change and “reinvent our relationship with planet Earth”, say Nobel laureates and experts in a statement. The letter, co-signed by dozens of leading international scientists, summarises the conclusions made during the Nobel Prize ‘Our Planet, Our Future’ Summit hosted in late April, which stresses the “existential need” to act […]
4Mins Read The Amazon rainforest is now having a net warming effect on climate change, after years of humanity’s destruction of our planet’s crucial carbon absorption resource. In what is the first-ever study of all the human and natural causes contributing to how the world’s largest rainforest impacts our climate, scientists warn that the impact of our […]
3Mins Read Tyson Foods has revamped its former “blended” animal meat and plant-based range of alternative proteins under its brand Raised & Rooted with three new completely vegan-friendly products, as the meat giant comes under greater pressure to respond to consumer demand. Made from pea protein, the launch of the new 100% plant-based burgers, sausages and grounds […]
4Mins Read Canadian firm Chinova Bioworks has ramped up their production capabilities to meet the fast-growing demand for clean-label food products. The company’s flagship ingredient, Chiber, is derived from the upcycled stems of white button mushrooms and functions as a natural, synthetic-free preservative. Chinova Bioworks is rapidly expanding its manufacturing capacity with a newly constructed 20,000 square […]
3Mins Read The Spanish meat industry’s attempt to sue plant-based meat maker Heura for its recent controversial billboard advert in Madrid has been denied by a Barcelona court. The advert exhibited the words “one beef burger pollutes more than your car” as part of the startup’s campaign to educate consumers about the environmental impact of conventional meat. […]
4Mins Read Swedish food tech Stockeld Dreamery is launching its first product, a plant-based feta cheese alternative. Landing in stores within Stockholm this week, the fermented pea and fava bean-based Stockeld Chunk will then be rolled out in more restaurants and retailers across Sweden, ahead of the startup’s international launch. Stockeld Dreamery has announced the launch of […]
4Mins Read Eleven Madison Park, the upscale three-Michelin-star restaurant helmed by Daniel Humm, is reopening its doors with a 100% vegan menu. Famous for its meat-centric American fine dining cuisine, the decision to go completely plant-based was a “risk worth taking” as it becomes increasingly clear amid the pandemic that the current food system is “simply not […]
3Mins Read You might want to think twice before you take a pass at mushrooms. Scientists have recently discovered that diets high in mushroom consumption are associated with a lower risk of developing cancer. The study, led by Pennsylvania State University researchers, found that this superfood is the highest dietary source of a “unique and potent antioxidant […]
4Mins Read Singapore-based Sophie’s Bionutrients has debuted the world’s first plant-based milk alternative made out of microalgae. Made from a neutral microalgae flour derived from the food tech’s proprietary strain using its patent-pending technology, the novel product stands out from existing vegan alternatives that tend to be nut-based or soy-based, and therefore unsuitable for allergies. Sophie’s Bionutrients […]
4Mins Read British company Caviar Biotec is making luxury seafood delicacies fish-free. Founded by a veteran of the global caviar trade who believes that the future of protein is slaughter-free, the London-based startup is cultivating caviar directly from cells, outside of the sturgeon fish. While still in R&D stage, the company hopes to debut two “clean” alternatives […]
4Mins Read In March, Danone’s CEO Emmanuel Faber was let go from his position, a decision the French multinational food giant’s board made under pressure from shareholders. As one of the leading voices in the corporate world for ESG-forward principles and stakeholder capitalism, was his championing of green business principles the reason for his exit? That’s the […]
4Mins Read South Korean startup SeaWith has set its sights on bringing cultured meat to diners by the end of next year. The firm has already developed its own seaweed-based cell culturing medium and scaffolds, and is now in the process of scaling up production ahead of its plan to unveil its final cultivated meat products at […]
4Mins Read A new survey has found that almost three quarters of men would rather reduce their life expectancy by an entire decade than give up meat consumption, underlining the stronghold that meat-eating and masculinity continues to have over consumers as a barrier to healthier dietary change. Organisers of the Australian poll, No Meat May, hope that […]
4Mins Read Alternative protein companies in Israel saw investments surge to US$114 million in 2020, nearly tripling the figure in 2019 and eight-fold higher than the capital raised in 2018. The latest statistics emerging from the Good Food Institute Israel (GFI Israel) also recorded skyrocketing sales for plant-based alternatives on the market, with every category in the […]
3Mins Read Plantcraft, a newly launched plant-based clean label deli meat startup, has debuted their first pâté products. Coming in two flavour varieties, the new vegan-friendly pâté alternatives made nutritious and unique plant-based protein ingredients are slated to hit U.S. retail shelves in May as the company gears up to expand their range in the coming months. […]
4Mins Read There’s been an enormous surge in interest around plant-based eating in recent years, and social media trends can be a huge tell-tale for consumer demand. Google Trends, for instance, recorded an all-time high for vegan search terms in 2020, doubling the level logged just five years ago. While Google is still the leading global search […]
Our planet is suffering from the deluge of plastics polluting our ocean and environment, harming biodiversity, animals and fuelling climate change. Even if we slashed plastic consumption by 80%, we’re still looking at dealing with an astonishing 710 million tonnes of waste littered across the Earth. Simply put, the planet is running out of time and we’re going to come up with a lot of solutions to fix the plastic crisis.
Enter these material startups, who are rising to the challenge and incorporating novel material science and circular technologies that could make a difference to the ongoing fight against plastic pollution.
The startups showcased their solutions at the virtual Rethinking Materials Summit in May; each is coming up with unique solutions that could transform the plastic and materials supply chain. Let’s take a look.
Source: Algaeing
1. Algaeing
Founding date: 2016
Headquarters: Tel Aviv, Israel
Founders: Renana Krebs & Dr. Oded Krebs
Solution: Bio-based materials
Israeli textiles innovation firm Algaeing by Algalife is a female-led startup harnessing the power of algae to make eco-friendly fibres. The startup, who recently won the VWS Pathfinder pitch competition, has developed a proprietary method to spin sustainable bio-fibres in a 100% closed loop system, as well as create dyes that are made with algae.
Source: Carbonauten
2. Carbonauten
Founding date: 2017
Headquarters: Giengen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Founders: Christina Granacher, Alejandro M., Torsten Becker
Solution: Bio-based materials
Carbonauten has come up with a system that slashes both the carbon footprint and cost for companies and municipalities to produce its NET Materials. The technology involves making the material from carbon-lowering biocarbons with different binders, using local biogenic residues and waste materials, then leaving behind only renewable energy as a by-product.
Source: Gelatex Technologies
3. Gelatex Technologies
Founding date: 2016
Headquarters: Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia
Founders: Mari-Ann Meigo, Märt-Erik Martens
Solution: Bio-based materials
Estonian startup Gelatex Technologies creates cost-efficient bio-based nanofibres, making it possible for large companies to incorporate their fibres and polymers on a mass scale without having to add extra costs to their production. According to the firm, their patent-pending tech slashes the price of bio-based fibres by 90%. These fibres can be used to make everything from eco-friendly leather alternatives to 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering.
Source: Xampla
4. Xampla
Founding date: 2018
Headquarters: Cambridge, United Kingdom
Founders: Professor Tuomas Knowles, Dr. March Rodriguez Garcia, Simon Hombersley
Solution: Bio-based materials
A spin-off from Cambridge University, British startup Xampla is tackling microplastic pollution and single-use plastic with their plant-based protein materials. Their “next-generation” material is 100% natural, decomposes fully without harming the environment, but still performs just like synthetic polymers on the market.
Source: Empower
5. Empower
Founding date: 2018
Headquarters: Oslo, Norway
Founders: Carl Nesset, Gjermund Bjaanes, Wilhelm Myrer
Solution: Circular technologies
Empower is a Norway-based startup using digital tech, cloud data and blockchain to create their platform that seamlessly shares information on plastic waste, mapping the flows of plastic to ensure that the material ends up where it can have the highest value. Tracking plastic from production to end-of-life, where it hopefully can be repurposed into new sustainable products, the startup wishes to “close the tap on plastic waste and recreate a world without waste, a truly circular economy.”
Source: Genecis Bioindustries
6. Genecis Bioindustries
Founding date: 2016
Headquarters: Ontario, Canada
Founder: Luna Yu
Solution: Circular technologies
Genecis Bioindustries is a biotech firm using bacteria to make new premium materials from organic waste feedstocks. Reprogramming the bacteria from low-value organic waste, the company is able to cost-efficiently manufacture high-quality biodegradable polymers that can be used to make products such as thermo-resistant packaging, compostable coffee pods and even 3D-printing filaments – taking fossil fuels out of the equation in production.
Source: Magnomer
7. Magnomer
Founding date: 2017
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Magnomer makes novel magnetic inks that can be used in plastic packaging, which enables enhanced recycling for the circular economy. Their inks can be “seamlessly integrated” into current packaging materials, which makes it easier for firms to adopt the technology and allow for improved separation of products for recycling when it comes to their end-of-life.
Source: Scindo
8. Scindo
Founding date: 2020
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Founders: Benjamin G. Davis, Gustaf Hemberg, Juliet Sword
Solution: Circular technologies
Cleantech startup Scindo is using enzymes to recycle what the company dubs “the unrecyclables”. Their tech enables plastic polymers from items that cannot be efficiently recycled to be broken down into useful molecular components, which can then be used as a cheap feedstock in a range of industries – which means diversion of plastics away from landfills and incinerators, turning them towards carbon recycling instead.
3Mins Read Generation Z, the group of teenagers and young adults born between 1997 to 2012, are spending more on food than any other product category and prefer value-led brands that care about social and environmental issues. These results, revealed in the latest semi-annual U.S. survey, also found that thrifting and secondhand purchases have become “second nature” […]
