PlasticFri

I believe that as a society we have to make a fundamental shift in the way we value resources and move from a ‘linear economy’ (make, use, dispose) to a ‘circular’ one. In a Circular Economy, resources are kept in use for as long as possible, the maximum value is extracted from them whilst in use, and at the end of the product’s service life, materials are recovered and regenerated from it.

And I know our existence is not singular, it is part of a bigger eco-system of people, communities, organizations and nature. 

Therefore, I need all the possible support to spread the awareness about PlasticFri's movment.

The Elevate Prize funding and support would play a significant role in advance my work and scaling the impact of our innovation.

More specifically, I would dedicate the prize money to further develop our "Green School" project where we aim to build a digital platform for increasing public awareness about plastics and environment and educating the people to make a better choice in their everyday life.

Green School will be offered "free of charge" and accessible to everyone everywhere. 

Conventional plastics are made from petroleum and stay in the environment up to 1000 years! By 2050, the oceans could have more plastic than fish. 

I am on a mission to change that by transforming renewable resources to bio-based alternative products for replacing disposable plastics.

I believe we have a responsibility towards our planet, the people and creatures who inhabit it.

I believe it is the social responsibility of our social enterprise to give back to the world, just as it gives to us. This is what makes us a truly sustainable ogranization.

My vision is to enable a sustainable future free of plastic pollution.

PROBLEM

Conventional plastics are made from petroleum. They cause pollution and stay in the environment for up to 1000 years! Basically, all of the plastic that has ever been made STILL EXISTS today.

Plastics cause many environmental problems including:

- 100,000 marine-animals and 1 million sea birds are killed by plastic pollution annually.

- 80% of ocean plastic pollution enters the ocean from land.

- Every year, 2 billion tons of CO2 emission are caused just because of plastic production.

- By 2050, the oceans could have more plastic than fish .

We are on a mission to change that by transforming renewable resources to bio-based products for replacing disposable plastics.

SOLUTION

We are an award-winning team of researchers who invented PlasticFri: a proprietary technology to make a revolutionary packaging which works like conventional (petroleum-based) plastics, but it’s made from plants not petroleum. 

It is 100% biodegradable, compostable and totally non-toxic. This means it contains no substances or materials that are harmful to animals or nature.

Because we use raw materials derived from abundant, cheap and renewable plant resources, mainly coming from organic waste and nonedible plants. 

The alternative solutions either POLLUTE the environment, have POOR FUNCTIONALITY and are EXPENSIVE.

With our technology, we have succeeded to maximize the bio-based content, improve functionality and reduce the costs.

PlasticFri is the result of years of research and development. It is superior to existing solutions, because it has the lowest environmental impact while providing a great performance at a competitive cost.

Moreover, none of the competitors are using waste as the source.

PlasticFri delivers environmental, technological and economical values including:

+ Bio-based

+ Bio-degradable

+ Compostable

+ Recyclable

+ Scalable: Can be produced by existing machines

+ Reducing CO2 emission by up to 86%

Our revolutionary technology is already tested, validated and CERTIFIED by the toughest certification standards in Europe and also received efficient solution label from Global SIF.

PlasticFri has been awarded as the “World’s Most Innovative Sustainability Starrtup 2020” among 1400 organization worldwide! 

PlasticFri was also recently named “Most promising Impact organization in Nordics and Baltics”.

Implementation of impact-assessment,management & measurement

To qualify and quantify the social,economic and environmental-changes that have occurred over a certain-period, it is important to measure different KPIs

This allows us to

• Assess actual vs. planned performance against specific objectives and targets
• Confirm the viability,feasibility,effectiveness and materiality of our intent, mandate and strategy
• Report identified indicators
• Identify what outcomes and impacts
• The likelihood and risk that impact will be different than expected

Our 4-step-process:

1) R&D 

2) Third-party validations & certifications 

3) Pilots 

4) Green School (the focus of Elevate Prize funding) 

I believe these steps are effective, because with steps 1 & 2 we have created a strong foundation in order to PROVE that our technology works and validated by independent organizations. 

In order to make sense of this, we run step 3 pilots in order to SHOWCASE that it is possible to use the power of innovation and technology for offering better and more eco-friendly alternatives for end consumers. 

This creates the TRUST needed to drive our movement.

And step 4 is all about scaling the impact through independent knowledge sharing with different stakeholders and offering free-of-charge informative content to everyone, regardless of their location or financial situation.