New Delhi/Bengaluru/Mumbai [India], May 12 (ANI/NewsVoir): Sustainability-focused Climate tech fund, Climate Angels has joined forces with GoMassive for its one-of-its-kind ZeSUP Challenge – the Zero Single-use Plastic Challenge for startups who are leading the fight against single-use plastics in the F&B industry. Under this unique initiative, Climate Angels will collaborate with GoMassive to accelerate startups in India for the next 6 months to pilot their solutions to reduce single-use plastic waste. The selected startups will get project and startup funding from a pool of USD 500,000, dedicated mentorship and technical assistance for the project, securing partnerships with F&B partners to pilot solutions, and deep learning and network-building opportunities.
This challenge is implemented by The Incubation Network and funded by the PREVENT Waste Alliance, an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and ECCA Family Foundation. It is part of PREVENT’s Innovate & PREVENT program. GoMassive has been chosen as an Entrepreneur Support Organization (ESO) by The Incubation Network and is working with partners like The Beer Cafe in India to overcome the challenges faced by the F&B industry.
“We are really excited to launch this unique challenge to support early-stage companies who are championing the cause of sustainability and working on reducing single-use plastic waste. This will greatly help them to overcome key challenges such as lack of collaborative industry partners, underdeveloped value chains, and complex policy and regulatory frameworks. The F&B industry relies heavily on Single-Use Plastics for its needs and the outcomes of this endeavor will certainly bring viable solutions to tackle the menace in the long run,” said Shailesh Vickram Singh, Founder of Climate Angels.
The demand for packaging in the Food & Beverage (F&B) Industry, particularly Single-use Plastics (SUPs), is dominated by polystyrene and other types of hard-to-recycle plastics, including flexibles (films, sachets, and more). By 2025, these are projected to make up more than 70 per cent of the market for food packaging in South and Southeast Asia. Moreover, the food-service industry heavily utilizes single-use packaging, from the purchase of food supplies to preparation and for off-premises food services such as deliveries, drive-throughs, and takeaways. Being entirely reliant on their supply chains, the sector is unaccustomed to working with alternative solutions for conventional plastics or circular reuse/refill models developed by early-stage companies. The ZeSUP Challenge will aim at finding solutions to these and related problems in the industry.
The insights derived from their pilots will contribute to a study around understanding the environmental impacts of alternative solutions to single-use plastic packaging. The results will be outlining the environmental considerations associated with single-use replacement business models and the opportunities to reduce negative impacts or recognize carbon savings, relative to virgin plastic production.
Climate Angels is a SEBI CAT I investment fund focused on creating a sustainable future by exclusively focusing on companies working in Pollution Reduction/Climate Change space. The network invests in start-ups working in Clean Energy, Clean Mobility, Clean Water, Clean Food & Clean Cities sectors.
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