Earth Cycle

Although all of us can cut the amount of food waste we produce, a certain amount is inevitable. We don’t see these everyday household scraps as “waste.” Rather, they are a precious resource that if harnessed correctly can accelerate our transition toward a sustainable, circular food system. We are proposing a community-driven composting service. Operated in partnership with a national food retailer, the service turns food waste into credit for low-income households to enable them to buy nutritious foods. A fleet of cycle couriers collect food waste, and take it to our composting facility. An app tracks how much each household has donated, and in turn, issues the correct amount of store credit. Users can also choose to “gift” their credit to support those in need. The compost itself—sold as “local earth”—utilizes a profit-share scheme that generates further revenue for local food banks and charities.

Food waste is a major problem, no matter where you are. In fact, ⅓ of all food is wasted worldwide. In the US, 100 billion pounds of edible food are wasted each year, while at the same time, 39 million people still don’t have a sufficient amount of nutritious food on their plates. Many factors such as good food being thrown away relate to our solution, because this food instead of going into a landfill can be put to use. Our service remedies this, by keeping food in a perpetual loop, ensuring there is no food waste. To us, there is no such thing as "waste;" just stuff in the wrong place!

A second aspect to this problem is the challenge of accessing a healthy, nutritious diet for people trapped in poverty. It is well understood that low-income households frequently occupy food deserts, and lack access to nutritious foods. Much of this is because they are priced out of the market, but a deeper analysis reveals that shopping and eating habits have become established around unhealthy and unsustainable practices. Our service aims to steer these habits toward more nutritious and sustainable choices. It's behavior change we are working for here.

Our solution monetizes household food waste by turning it into compost. Not only does our system help the environment, but it also supports low-income communities. If they give us their food scraps, then they can acquire credits, which can be used to purchase healthy and nutritious foods. This will help improve their health, and the health of the environment, while also boosting the local economy. We have made this possible by providing people who donate their waste with credits they can use to buy healthy foods in selected stores. When the food waste is decomposing in the composting facilities, the  greenhouse gasses that would be released into the air if the food was in a landfill will be trapped in the soil. This system will enable a decrease in the greenhouse gas emissions that are harming our planet.

Our solution serves everyone, but especially people in low-income communities; essentially, turning "trash into cash." We are trying to improve the dietary habits of people in low income communities by supporting them in gaining access to healthier food choices. It will impact them because they can earn credits which make them be able to afford healthier, fresher, and more nutritious food, while also helping the environment. The credits our service provides cannot be spent on anything; only healthy, nutritious foods in selected partner retail outlets. Our hope is this more nutritious diet will help prevent things like diabetes, obesity, and other long-term health problems. Many citizens are aware of the benefits of composting, but do not have the space, facilities, or will to do it themselves. A 2019 survey showed that almost 75% of householders in the US said they would compost their food if it was more easily accessible. Given these numbers, we should be able to utilize this large community of people with confidence, and look forward to positive social engagement with our system.

This challenge is to support the transition to a more sustainable and resilient food system. The issue of food waste sits at the heart of the matter. Our solution challenges the "linear" nature of our food system (take, make, dispose) and flips it into a "circular," restorative one. We take household food waste, and instead of wastefully discarding it, are composting it and putting it back into the earth. Our users also benefit from this cyclical process. Credits are awarded to people that contribute their food waste, opening access to healthier foods, and shifting buying habits toward sustainable food choices.

There are several aspects of our solution that are innovative. These include:

• we have converted a product to a service. In so doing, we have opened up new markets and removed barriers to participation
• we take a systemic approach to solving problems, and see the interconnected nature of food-related problems; from poor diet and food waste, to food deserts and climate change 
• we use a fleet of cycle couriers to transport the materials, rather than polluting cars
• we turn food waste into food credit, providing access to healthy, nutritious foods for those on the poverty line
• we create incredible compost! the earth is losing its viable topsoil at an alarming rate; we need ideas like this to ensure we can continue to grow foods.

We will rely on three different core technologies, the hardware and the software. The software component is the system that keeps track of your credits and enables you to use them. For the hardware component we currently are just going to use regular composting techniques, but as we further develop will create an more efficient and effective way to compost. We found a device called the FoodCycler™. We will create a device similar to this, but on a much bigger scale. The last of our technologies is our biking system, it helps our environment in yet another way. It is able to effectively transport all of your waste when in a large enough fleet, the same way a car could, with one major difference. It’s eco-friendliness. It is able to do just as much as a car, with zero carbon emissions. 

According to the product “FoodCycler™”, it can take only up to 3 hours to turn regular food waste into nutritious compost when put in the right conditions, and the right machinery. We will create this on a bigger scale in order to be able to fit much more content inside the machine. Also, we already know that bikers are a reliable source of transport, as in England, there is a food transport company called Deliveroo™. This company uses the fact that their only means of transportation is bikers. Not only did this company do well, but it thrived. Many people interested in this business were motivated one step further when they found out that it also helped our environment in numerous different ways. As for the app, it will be similar to the app honey, but you will use it when you are at the store. Honey applies coupons that it finds on your purchase. Our app will apply the credits on your purchase where needed so it will be easy to apply your credits.

Below are the links to the websites of Deliveroo™, Honey™, and FoodCycler:

Honey™: https://help.joinhoney.com/article/39-what-is-the-honey-extension-and-how-do-i-get-it

Deliveroo™: https://www.fish4.co.uk/minisites/deliveroo-recruitment-/how-deliveroo-works-/

FoodCycler: https://www.nofoodwaste.com/blogs/the-foodcycler-blog/electric-composters-what-you-need-to-know-in-2019

In our opinion, for something to have taken up a change, it must first push itself off from its original place. For something to change for the better, it must help in some way, and build on what was already there to begin with. In terms of how our solution is changing society and the environment, we believe that this should positively affect the environment, as well as the people within it. This is why we believe that change is so important, it keeps us moving forwards.

Right now, our solution is serving zero people as it is still in the early concept stage. In one year, we hope to be able to serve parts of Pittsburgh (300,000 people), we know that this may not be possible in just one year, but we will aim high, and try our best. By the end of 5 years, we hope to showcase our system to 1.2 million people. In other words, we hope to include the wider region within the next 5 years.

Within the next year we hope to be able to partner with many of the larger businesses within Pittsburgh, such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. By doing this we hope to become more renowned and for people to gain awareness of our company, and hope by the end of the first year to have completely spread throughout Pittsburgh. In our fifth year in service, we hope to be able to spread our product around Allegheny County, and move elsewhere to people still in need. By then, we also hope that most of the communities in Pittsburgh will have understood the reasons for this system, and how it helps them in so many ways. By feeling this, they may also understand how this affects the environment is a positive way too. 

One of the largest barriers that came up in our team was the method of transportation for the composting materials. Bikers, although eco-friendly, are harder to manage than cars. This is because they are unable to travel as far, or as fast. Another barrier within biking is transporting the soil back to the stores. Since the facilities will be far from the stores it will The last barrier is being educated. If people know who we are but don’t understand what we do, then that will be a barrier because they may not decide to take part in our system. 

We plan to overcome these barriers in many different ways. For the bikes not being able to go far enough or fast enough we can make a meeting place for all the bikes after they are done picking up the waste. Here, there will be a small fleet of electric cars waiting to take all of the food waste to a composting facility. Also when transporting the soil to the stores, if the bikes aren’t able to travel that far, we will be able to use electric cars instead. We will be able to partner with schools to teach the students about us and the benefits of composting. The students may go home and inform their parents about these benefits. We also will have information pamphlets at every grocery store we are partnered with.

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4, Kabir Chaudry, Jasper Chapman, Amee Chaudry, Jonathan Chapman

This is a competition about reimagining the future of food. As a team of innovative, dynamic middle schoolers, we have as much stake in the future of food as anybody else. We have spent the last few months analyzing and studying this topic, and talking to experts in this field to grow our knowledge greatly. We are well positioned to deliver this because we are young, and have a fresh perspective on the problems. We see things in a different way than adults so we can deliver this solution with a radical, alternative take. 

Currently we don’t partner with anyone, but in the future we will partner with major grocers such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Giant Eagle.

We provide value to the population we serve by giving them an opportunity to make healthy nutritious food affordable. We are able to generate revenue from different sources such as funding, sponsorships, and subscriptions to our company. If you are not able to afford a subscription then you are eligible to receive this service for free. 

Our key customers are our middle and high income customers. While they may not be our target population, they are our road to success because they can provide us with the necessary funds. With these funds we can expand greatly and then provide for the low income population.

We are applying because we need help to kickstart our company and raise awareness about us. With Solve's help we will be taken more seriously and will have more opportunities. With funding we can afford to put our plan into action and gain the attention of big companies.

We will need partners to help us actually develop the app, the composting machine, and help map out the system. We need exposure and marketing help so we can partner up with big companies such as Whole Food. We also need help putting our name out there so people can find us and know who we are and what we do.

We would like to partner with big grocers such as Whole Foods. We will institute our system into their stores by putting composted soil in a section, by setting up a credit/coupon system on low carbon and nutritious foods, and by publicizing us so we can gain more customers and more users of our system.

This is also a solution that everyone can engage with, regardless of income levels. Our system has been designed in an inclusive way, and caters to the everyday needs of real people, as well as the longer-term sustainability needs of the planet.

We are qualified for this prize because if this solution is scaled globally our planet will have changed for the better. A study showed that food waste amounts to 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions and with our solution we can take positive steps toward reducing that figure. Even though 8% seems small, when it is on a scale this big it can completely change the world. This could effect how climate change impacts us and how bad climate change will become.