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A platform brings together stakeholders in waste management
CategoriesSustainable News

A platform brings together stakeholders in waste management

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: In 2020, 4.8 tonnes of waste were generated per inhabitant in the European Union, and the volume of waste we generate as a global – and increasingly consumer – population is only growing. Recycling rates are not keeping up with current rates of waste production, with a lot of waste ending up either incinerated or dumped in landfill. To help end this unsustainable waste treatment, Netherlands-based startup Seenons has created a platform that connects everyone in the waste chain to help reduce rubbish, salvage valuable raw materials, and stimulate a circular economy. 

Seenons combines clean technology and smart logistics in its tech platform, connecting organisations that separate waste, logistics companies that transport it, and processors and producers who use the scraps to manufacture new usable materials and products. The platform matches waste with a suitable processor, who then turns it into a new product, green electricity, or biogas. For example, coffee residues can be repurposed into soap, or used as raw material to grow oyster mushrooms. 

Seenons’ website and app allow businesses to arrange for their waste to be collected efficiently and sustainably with the click of a button. Users can manage and track their waste easily with Seenons and see the positive impact they’ve made in a personalised dashboard. 

The company recently raised €10 million in a recent investment round, which will be used to further develop its platform internationally and improve its technology. 

Springwise has spotted many innovations that better manage waste, including houses that are made using waste from rice production, and an app that helps families minimise the food that ends up in kitchen bins.

Written By: Anam Alam

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A platform for recycling coffee capsules
CategoriesSustainable News

A platform for recycling coffee capsules

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Coffee is a popular drink, and the market continues to grow, with an increasing number of people turning to the convenience of coffee pods at home and at work. The problem with these capsules is that very few are recycled, with leading coffee brand Nespresso estimating that only 30 per cent of its consumers recycle the pods. One of the main stumbling blocks in recycling coffee capsules are the grounds that remain in the pod after it has been used. 

Spanish company Recycap is making it easier for home users to recycle both the capsules themselves and leftover grounds with its React (Recycap Automated Coffee Technology) recycling device. Used pods are tossed into the device that then automatically cleans the capsules and separates the two materials for easier, more sustainable disposal. 

The grounds can be collected for composting, and the cleaned capsules become recyclable in standard facilities. By removing the need for recycling facilities to separate organic waste from metal, the React device could save billions of pieces of recyclable rubbish from ending up in landfill or being incinerated.  

The React device has the capacity to recycle up to 600 capsules per hour, making the technology convenient for large office buildings and in high traffic public spaces, such as grocery and convenience stores. Recycap has also created a coffee machine with the recycling technology integrated, so users can minimise the number of appliances they have on countertops. Available in red, black, or white, the coffee machine is compatible with most brands of coffee pods, making it easy to switch to a more sustainable brewing system. 

The startup recently raised €400,000 to further develop its technologies and get them on the market.

Other coffee-focused innovations that Springwise has spotted include car interiors made from coffee pulp and a platform that encourages environmentally responsible coffee bean production.  

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

A climate-tech finance platform for the agricultural industry
CategoriesSustainable News

A climate-tech finance platform for the agricultural industry

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: According to the World Bank, agriculture currently generates 19–29 per cent of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a figure that is set to rise further as other sectors reduce their emissions. This makes agriculture a major part of the climate problem. Regenerative soil management practices could help reduce emissions, and help farms become more resilient, but many farmers cannot qualify for the loans needed to switch. But now, European fintech HeavyFinance aims to help them.

The startup connects farmers with investors, providing financing and loan schemes for farms and projects in the sustainable agriculture space. The company’s platform scores farmers’ borrowing capabilities, facilitates transactions, and administers each loan throughout its life. Around half of their portfolio is currently used to finance sustainable agriculture, with a focus on conservation tillage practices such as no-till farming.

No-till farming, which uses a direct drill to plant crops instead of heavy machinery, is a particularly important part of increasing the sustainability and resilience of agriculture. It lowers emissions by reducing the use of diesel-powered machinery, and leaves soils undisturbed, reducing erosion. As less nutrients leach out of the soils, they require less fertiliser and retain more carbon.

The company recently raised €3 million in a seed funding round led by VC firm Practica Capital. When announcing the funding, Laimonas Noreika, Founder of HeavyFinance, explained that, “Tackling climate change must be a united effort … Food growth plays a vital part in the climate battle as a prominent global issue, and connecting investors with farmers and agricultural specialists through our finance platform can help accelerate the adoption of regenerative soil management practices to reduce carbon emissions output throughout Europe.”

Recent sustainable financing innovations spotted by Sprinwise include neobanks that promote growth in new areas, and the provision of carbon insurance to encourage investment in carbon capture technology.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

A software platform for supply chain decarbonisation
CategoriesSustainable News

A software platform for supply chain decarbonisation

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Supply chains are saturated with carbon. In fact, supply chain emissions are estimated to be 11.4 times higher than the operational emissions of an average company. Industries must cut these emissions drastically to meet worldwide sustainability targets like the Paris Agreement, but for many companies, this is easier said than done. Enter The Climate Choice, a climate-based intelligence software platform set to decarbonise industrial supply chains. 

By combining an assessment with its software, The Climate Choice can show companies how climate-ready they are before generating a specialised, cost-effective, action-oriented solution. The startup also invites suppliers to be a part of the solution too, offering its intelligence and guidance to meet net-zero needs. 

“There is still a large disconnect between the aspirational climate targets and the reality of actions taken – and yet every company now requires a clear and effective approach for reducing their emissions. Data-informed, streamlined processes are key for monitoring, tracking and engaging suppliers in their decarbonization journey for any large supply chain,” said Yasha Tarani, Co-founder & CEO at The Climate Choice. 

Earlier this month, the company announced $2 million (around €1.8 million) in pre-seed funding and is planning to use this to grow further and expand its Climate Intelligence Platform. 

Springwise has previously spotted other innovations that use computers for decarbonisation, including a software platform that makes carbon counting affordable for businesses and an AI (artificial intelligence) that helps high-polluting industries optimise cutting their emissions.

Written By: Georgia King

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A platform for tracking the climate footprint of food products
CategoriesSustainable News

A platform for tracking the climate footprint of food products

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: The global food market is worth more than $9 trillion (about €8.5 trillion) and is going to continue growing. This volume of food has an equivalently large carbon footprint, something growers are aware of and working to change. Helping to capture those improvements is French software-as-a-service (SaaS) company Carbon Maps. Carbon Maps’ platform automates emissions calculations for food products. 

Such complex calculations rely heavily on algorithms, and Carbon Maps uses internationally recognised data standards and scientific models for its computations. Product life cycle assessments (LCAs) examine data from basic growing techniques to water usage, processing systems, recycling and more. By utilising the power of artificial intelligence (AI), Carbon Maps enables large industrial food distributors to assess the sustainability of a range of their products, even those that use a multitude of ingredients.  

As well as providing eco-scores for each foodstuff, the Carbon Maps system allows for easy updates of LCAs as information changes. A grower may alter their farming practices meaning less water is needed, so the automated emissions calculation system makes it easy for that improvement to be included in the scores for the many products that use those crops.  

Carbon Maps includes details such as biodiversity, animal welfare, and soil health in its calculations, allowing for a much more holistic view of the sustainability of an item. The company is currently working with two businesses on pilot programmes, and recently closed a €4 million seed funding round that will be used to expand its operational capacity. 

Reducing carbon emissions is such a global priority that – as Springwise has spotted– innovations in two of the worst polluting industries, food and fashion, are pushing the technology and tracking capabilities ahead as quickly as possible.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

A platform stops imperfect food from going to waste in Mexico
CategoriesSustainable News

A platform stops imperfect food from going to waste in Mexico

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: According to a report by the WWF, more than 15 per cent of usable food is lost before it ever leaves the farm, with the majority of this waste occurring in middle and high income regions. Some of this waste occurs when food is left on the field due to order cancellations, imperfections in food appearance, or a surplus. This represents a tremendous waste of resources. Mexican startup Perfekto is hoping to improve the situation with its delivery boxes.

Launched in 2021, Perfekto works with more than 70 producers to ‘rescue’ food that cannot be sold to suppliers. Subscribers choose from different types and sizes of box, or can request a ‘surprise’ box. These boxes can also be personalised with different types of produce and are then delivered using proprietary software that automates routing and logistics. All of the fruit and vegetables arrive with minimal packaging, and what packaging there is, is returnable to Perfekto for recycling and/or reuse.

Since its origins, the business has grown to more than 3,000 active monthly subscribers. However, the company envisions even bigger things in the future, with hopes of expanding into food other than fruits and vegetables, including those foods that are less likely to sell because of dented packaging. Perfekto recently announced that it has raised $1.1 million (approximately €1.07 million) in pre-seed funding to expand its food rescue programme across Mexico City, improve operations and technology, and expand its catalogue of products.

Perfekto is one of a number of companies that are working to save food from ending up in landfills. Springwise has also spotted a platform that helps hospitality companies manage their inventories to reduce waste, and AI that checks the ripeness of produce.

Written By Lisa Magloff

Reference

A smart trading platform for waste EV batteries
CategoriesSustainable News

A smart trading platform for waste EV batteries

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: According to the IEA, the number of electric cars on the world’s roads by the end of 2021 was about 16.5 million, triple the amount in 2018. While this may seem like great news for the environment, it is not all positive. That is because the current recycling rate for electric vehicle (EV) batteries is extremely low, with some estimates putting it at just five per cent. For electric mobility to represent a truly sustainable solution, this needs to change, and Stockholm-based Cling Systems is one of the organisations working on a solution.

Currently, when EV batteries reach the end of their life, they often end up in a fragmented system of car dismantlers, workshops, and wreckers. But connecting these to the businesses who want to use or recycle old batteries is difficult. In fact, according to Cling, logistics can account for almost 50 per cent of recycling costs. In response, the startup has developed an intelligent collection and trading platform that connects vehicle manufacturers and buyers of end-of-life batteries to vehicle scrap yards and dismantlers.

Cling’s platform aims to solve the logistics issues that prevent end-of-life batteries from being reused. It does this by aggregating data to allow recyclers and dismantlers to connect with buyers of end-of-life batteries. Through efficient matching of supply and demand, Cling enables the development of a circular battery recycling system while also maintaining a competitive market for the batteries.

While Cling’s marketplace is initially aimed at the Nordic region and Europe, the company hopes to expand to other areas. According to the company, “Our presence in the industry has already generated some exciting early conversations from key players. We have potential customers and partners from both Europe, North America, and Asia. Our vision is to make the electrical transformation truly sustainable.”

As battery technology becomes more vital to a sustainable future, we are also seeing a big uptick in innovations designed to deal with battery waste. Some of those we have recently covered include a riverboat powered by old EV batteries and repurposed EV batteries being used for energy storage.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

A platform verifies nature-based solutions for carbon offsetting
CategoriesSustainable News

A platform verifies nature-based solutions for carbon offsetting

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: The number of organisations committing to climate targets and offsetting has been growing rapidly. However, this growth also represents a major challenge, because the voluntary carbon market is still in its infancy, meaning there is a lack of credible emission reduction programmes and questionable investments in carbon projects with no actual reductions.

Climate-tech startup Goodcarbon is working to change this by focusing on nature-based solutions (NbS), such as the conservation and restoration of forests or oceans. Through their platform, Goodcarbon connects NbS projects to capital, giving projects a stream of income and allowing organisations to offset their emissions with verified high-quality NbS projects. Project developers can also use the platform to sell Forward Credit contracts and auction ownership shares in their projects.

All projects listed on Goodcarbon are subject to a stringent verification process. The platform works together with existing verification and standardisation bodies such as Verra and Gold Standard, and also applies its own impact assessment scheme to ensure the platform only hosts the highest quality projects. The advantage for businesses is that not only can they invest, secure in the knowledge they are not greenwashing, but they can also use the platform to turn carbon offsetting into an investment opportunity.

According to many, the voluntary carbon market is largely non-transparent and is swamped with low-quality NbS projects that do not actually work. As Jerome Cochet, Co-Founder And Managing Director Of Goodcarbon, points out, “We have a major supply problem as project developers face significant challenges. They have high upfront costs, but a lack of funding, little appreciation of co-benefits such as biodiversity protection, and a high dependence on brokers. We are here to solve these challenges by converting natural capital into financial products.”

As of September 2022, thousands of organisations, representing $38 trillion, have committed to emission reduction targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). So it is no wonder that we are seeing a number of innovations aimed at offsetting. These include a platform that makes it easier for farmers to sell carbon credits, and a blockchain infrastructure for trading in forward carbon credits.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

A platform helps companies track ESG, CSR, and sustainability in one place 
CategoriesSustainable News

A platform helps companies track ESG, CSR, and sustainability in one place 

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: With research showing that corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives are frequently withdrawn during times of economic uncertainty, the full picture of the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is still developing. Many environmental advocates hoped that the sudden drop in global emissions would become the new norm, but the opposite happened. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that global emissions rebounded to their highest level in history in 2021. Part of that was a rebound in airline travel and a steep increase in transport by car.  

In light of the corporate struggle to do what is best for the planet, Spanish software company APlanet created a single, customisable dashboard for companies to track their environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures in one place. Whatever a business is doing to protect the global health of the planet, and wherever that occurs in the supply chain, the APlanet platform tracks it.

A company sets up the categories that it wants to track, which can include global standards as well as internal, local, or regional measures. APlanet helps identify data inputs and builds a bespoke dashboard. Companies can assign owners to different data sets and, when needed, easily create holistic performance reports for the entire organisation.

The detailed analysis provided by APlanet helps operational managers track efficiencies and a range of measures across multiple locations, including gender equality, emissions, energy usage, recycling, water usage and more.

CSR and ESG are important to consumers, with much brand loyalty pegged to a company’s ethos. As organisations seek ways to bake sustainability into their very foundations, innovators are rising to the challenge with technologies such as a platform that verifies and tracks impact projects and a social media app that raises funding for sustainable brands and causes.  

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

A platform gamifies sustainable shopping
CategoriesSustainable News

A platform gamifies sustainable shopping

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Surveys consistently show that many consumers are highly motivated to make more sustainable choices, but they don’t always know the best way to go about it. For example, when grocery shopping, there is often a lack of information around the sustainability of individual products. To help, Austrian startup inoqo has developed an app that can tell users the CO2 impact of their individual grocery purchases and help shoppers to make more informed choices. 

The inoqo app uses proprietary technology and publically available data to passively track the user’s grocery basket—without the need to scan individual items—and inform them about relevant factors such as the carbon dioxide impact of their purchase. It can then recommend alternative products with a lower impact. The app also includes features that encourage users to make more sustainable choices through personalised content, gamification, and community challenges.

In addition, inoqo allows users to specify their sustainability goals and values, such as avoiding products containing palm oil. The app will then provide feedback whenever a chosen product does not match the values of the user – if it contains palm oil for example. It will also analyse the user’s consumer behaviour to let them know how much it has helped. For example, if the user buys organic products, the app might tell them how much bee habitat they have preserved. Users can also take up challenges, such as reducing meat consumption or buyng only organic products.

At Springwise, we have spotted many innovations aiming to make it easier to make sustainable choices, from a virtual shopping assistant that makes it easier to find secondhand deals to a platform that has developed a sustainability scoring system. 

Written By: Lisa Magloff

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