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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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The Auum Dishwasher Takes Aim at Single-Use Waste By Cleaning & Disinfecting a Glass Cup in 10 Seconds

Every year, the average office worker uses 500 single-use paper coffee cups, most of which end up in landfills. Plastic cup and bottle waste is even worse.

One obvious answer to reducing or eliminating all this waste is to replace single-use beverage containers with washable, reusable cups or glasses. The problem with this is many offices don’t have a kitchen, and even in those that do, most workers are either too busy (read lazy) to load or unload a dishwasher.

Enter the auum-S, a small countertop dishwasher that washes and dries a single glass cup in 10 seconds. The machine, which uses less than one ounce of water per wash, also disinfects the glass cups using high-temperature dry steam heated to 140°c (284 °F).

You can watch how the system works in the video below:

Unlike other small form-factor countertop dishwashers, the auum-S is targeted at offices, and because the system is for the professional market, the company uses an as-a-service pricing model. The standard setup price is €150 per month for the machine and one hundred 8 ounce glasses. The glasses, designed by Swiss company Bodum, are double-walled and can be customized for the customer with logos or names printed on the glass.

According to company spokesperson Léo Calvet, auum started selling the auum-S four months ago in its home market of France and has already shipped 1500 machines. Many customers are based in Paris and include such names as L’Oréal and Yves Saint Laurent. The company, which has raised one round of funding and is looking to raise more funds this year, plans to sell the auum-S into additional European markets this year and is eyeing a US market entry in 2023.

The Auum Dishwasher Aims to Eliminate Single Use Cups at Work

Researchers Use Bacteria To Transform Plastic Into Edible Protein

In 2018, the equivalent of about 3.5 million dumpster trucks’ worth of plastic waste was produced in the U.S. alone, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the problem, driving increased demand for single-use plastic packaging and personal protective equipment.

Advances in microbiology suggest that bacteria and fungi could someday help us to tackle the problem of plastic waste. A 2020 review of this science identified some microorganisms capable of degrading different plastics (like a bacteria strain—found in the stomach of a waxworm—that can break down polyethylene, the most commonly used plastic polymer).

Two U.S.-based researchers have taken the idea of biological plastic recycling a step further. Not only are they using microorganisms to break down plastics; they’ve created a bio-based process that turns plastic waste into edible protein powder.

Ting Lu and Stephen Techtmann—professors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Michigan Technological University, respectively—collaborated on the process. The researchers are using both naturally occurring and engineered microorganisms to metabolize plastic waste and turn it into food.

This summer, Lu and Techtmann received Merck KGaA’s Future Insight Prize, which recognizes groundbreaking science and tech solutions to humanity’s greatest health, nutrition, and energy problems. The researchers were awarded €1 million for their work. According to a press release from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, they plan to use the funding to make their process entirely bio-based; to boost the nutritional profile of the resulting protein powder; and to adapt the technology to work on a wider range of plastic polymers and other non-edible waste.

“When I first started my own lab at Illinois, I wanted to work on something that’s both intellectually challenging and societally impactful. Food generation is such a topic,” said Lu in the university’s press release. “As bioengineers, we are called to use science and technology in service of humanity by improving human health and nutrition. It’s a real privilege to use my knowledge and to partner with other researchers to tackle harrowing issues.”

Lu and Techtmann’s process brings together the worlds of microorganism-based plastic recycling and food industry precision fermentation. The big question is how the resulting protein powder compares to the products on the shelf today, and whether consumers would opt for a food product derived from plastic.

Heineken UK Beer Packs Ditch Plastic Rings in Favor of Cardboard

Heineken UK is now tackling the problem presented by all those plastic rings connecting their bottles of beer by ditching them for a more environmentally friendly cardboard topper to hold those cans together.

Heineken UK today announced the Green Grip, its new cardboard packaging that is 100 percent plastic free. It will first be used by brewer on Heineken, Foster’s and Kronenbourg 1664 multi-packs before being rolled out across the company’s entire line of beverages.

Heineken says that between the Green Grip and the removal of shrink wrapping on consumer packs, the company will eliminate more than 517 tons of plastic annually.

Plastic waste has been a big problem for us and our planet, with more than 8 million metric tons entering our oceans every year. Then along came the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated our plastic problem as people go through millions disposable gloves, and, more relevant to Spoon readers, single-use restaurant takeout containers.

Heineken UK isn’t the only beer company looking to get rid of the plastic rings on its multi-packs. A couple years back, Carlsberg started gluing cans of its brew together into a Snap Pack instead of using the plastic rings. And last year Coca-Cola and AB InBev announced plans to use the KeelClip paper-based multi-pack topper to be rolled out across Europe this year.

Admittedly, these are small changes, but if enough companies can follow suit, these small changes to the way we carry a six-pack into our next party (whenever those are allowed again), could make a really big impact on our planet.

Researchers Upcycle McDonald’s Waste Oil into 3D Printing Resin

We know that french fries aren’t good for you, but perhaps some good may come from our addiction to them. Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough recently showed that they could turn waste oil from McDonald’s deep fryers into a high-resolution, biodegradable 3D printing resin (h/t Plastics News).

Professor Andre Simpson led the research after realizing that the molecules in commercial resins were similar to the fats in cooking Oils. Last month, the University of Toronto Scarborough explained the research, writing:

Simpson and his team used a straightforward one-step chemical process in the lab, using about one litre of used cooking oil to make 420ml of resin. The resin was able to print a plastic butterfly that showed features down to 100 micrometres, and was structurally and thermally stable, meaning it wouldn’t crumble or melt above room temperature.

While the research is still early, Simpson points out how this technology could help on a couple of different environmentally friendly fronts. It helps find a use for waste oil, which can cause sewage backups and be expensive for restaurants to dispose of. Current 3D printing plastic resin uses fossil fuel oils and is difficult to make. Because the McResin is made from recyclable materials, it could be much cheaper than the current plastic version.

This McResin is also easily biodegradable because it’s basically just fats. Though Simpson doesn’t point to this specifically, perhaps this resin could create single-use cutlery or takeout packaging. There are obviously thermal issues to be worked out, but we are just at the beginning of this particular slice of 3D printing McResearch, and it will undoubtedly improve as more resources are poured into it.

Simpsons research joins a host of other startups tackling our plastic waste problem. Startups are developing ways to break our addiction to traditional plastic by developing edible cutlery, banana leaf packaging, or creating new types of compostable plastic-like packaging.

What’s cool about this resin is how it uses our addiction to greasy food to potentially help combat our addiction to single-use plastic. So maybe you can feel a little less guilty about ordering that side of fries next time.

Winners of the Next Packaging Movement by Perrier Announced

Sparkling water company Perrier today announced the winning projects of its The Next Packaging Movement at the ChangeNOW summit in Paris, France.

Announced last April, The Next Packaging Movement put out a call for startups and innovators that are creating packaging that isn’t just 100 percent recyclable, but also re-examine packaging entirely from source to end of life. Perrier received roughly 90 submissions and the company partnered with SoScience, European organization focused on responsible research and innovation.

The projects selected by Perrier were:

Biotic, an Africa-based startup that works with biodegradable plastic made from agricultural waste while creating jobs for African women.

Flexikeg, which delivers beverages in re-usable flexible kegs and already has a collaboration with Perrier.

Plastiskul, which creates micro factories for waste collection and transformation in developing countries.

The winners will each receive technical and operational support from Perrier as well as a minimum of €100,000 (~$110,000 USD), and up to a million Euros in total. Each project will also aim to bring their solution to market by 2025.

Of the winners, it looks like only Flexikeg currently has a website up, and it’s entirely in French. But from the looks of it, the flexible keg seems to be following a trend we’re seeing around of bags being employed to ship and store liquids. Bags are lighter and lay flat for easier shipping. The Albicchiere and Edgar connected wine dispensers both use bags of wine for refills, and the Olivery sends olive oil refills in pouches.

Perrier, of course, is contributing to the world’s big plastic packaging problem, but at least this is a small step in helping fix that.

The Rocean Smart Seltzer Maker is Shipping This Spring, After a Stay at the Swanky Conrad New York

If you’re in Vegas right now for CES, there’s a good chance you’re sitting in a hotel room sipping from a hotel-supplied bottle of water as you read this. Sadly, most of us do it, despite knowing the wastefulness of single-use plastic.

But I get it; Vegas’s dry air makes us thirsty, and, let’s face it, hotels aren’t great at providing in-room solutions for filtered water. (And also: have you ever tasted Vegas tap water?)

Here’s the thing though: more and more of us are moving through the day with our own reusable water bottles, and if we just had an in-room solution we’d fill up there before heading out to conquer our day.

Well if you’re staying at the Conrad New York this coming March, you’ll actually have the chance to fill your bottle water up with filtered (not to mention fizzy and flavored) water in-room. That’s because the swanky NYC hotel is going to put a Rocean smart water machine in every one of the hotel’s 463 rooms for a limited time.

The ritzy chain decided to give the water machines a go after a 40 day pilot this past November-December where they installed a Rocean in a single room. According to Rocean’s Chief Commercial Officer Andre Jaquet, guests in the room consumed 1.2 liters of water per day from the Rocean on average, the equivalent of 5-6 hotel-furnished single use plastic water bottles. Hotel management ran the numbers and realized, over the course of a year, they could eliminate about 1 million plastic water bottles from going into the waste stream.

One million plastic water bottles is a lot of water bottles. Extrapolate that across the tens of thousands of hotels in the US that provide single-use plastic water to guests, and you can see how big an impact these types of solutions could make if widely deployed.

Sadly, there are some business model inhibitors to making this happen, namely that lots of hotels charge guests for water bottles. But Rocean envisions a future where hotels could charge for extras like flavors and other add-ins like caffeine or nutrients that could replace the income from selling single-use plastic.

Friend of The Spoon Richard Gunther, who looked at the Rocean for the Spoon in 2018, told me what he likes most about the machine is it can be plumbed directly into your own water system. “That makes it really easy to use,” he said.

What I like most about the Rocean is the product’s aesthetics. Like many, I’m finding my kitchen countertop increasingly crowded, and if I’m going to put another device in my kitchen, it had better look good.

This one does, in no small part due to a former architect. Unlike so many of the high profile connected consumer products coming out of Silicon Valley nowadays, the product’s design wasn’t the result of some engagement with a high-priced design firm like Frog or IDEO, but instead it was the brainchild of architect-by-training and cofounder Mohini Boparai.

Boparai and husband, CEO Sunjay Guleria, conceived of the concept for the Rocean when living in India and Amsterdam and trying out different seltzer makers and filtration systems. They soon began to think about the impact a good built-in filter and carbonation system could make on reducing plastic, and soon Rocean was born.

If you aren’t traveling to New York soon to stay at the Conrad, you’ll be able to buy a Rocean smart water dispenser for your home soon. The machines, which had originally expected to ship in December of 2018, are now on track for a spring 2020 shipment after a $6 million venture infusion from investment firm Blue and a handful of celebrity angels like John Legend and South African DJ Black Coffee.

The machines will sell for $349, which will come with a starter of a couple flavors and a CO2 canister. Additional flavor add-ins and CO2 refill canisters will be available through the company’s website.

Is Grocery Shopping’s Future Bringing Your Own Containers? Pete and Gerry’s Is Finding Out.

A trip to the grocery store creates a trail of packaging, much of which is plastic, that is mostly destined for a dump, sometimes a recycling center, and sadly, too often, the ocean.

Some supermarket chains are trying to do their part to reduce waste, with the latest being Giant Eagle, which has pledged to phase out single-use plastics by 2025. However, moves like these, while noble, don’t account for the waste produced by the packaged products on store shelves, from cans of beans, pints of ice cream or cartons of eggs. That latter one is getting some attention now from Pete and Gerry’s, the organic egg company.

The company announced in a press release yesterday that it has been trialing a reusable egg carton at co-op food stores in New Hampshire and Vermont. The cartons are made of recycled, durable, BPA-free plastic that can be washed at home and reused repeatedly, according to the release. Once a consumer buys the carton for $2.99, they can fill it up from the Pete and Gerry’s display of loose eggs, which are discounted from a standard dozen. More than 500 of the cartons have been sold, Fast Company reports.

Pete and Gerry’s said that an average American who eats 279 eggs per year would save more than 1,800 cartons from entering the recycling and waste stream by using the reusable carton. On a larger scale, if every one of the 327 million American did so, more than 594 billion cartons would be out of circulation. Pete and Gerry’s said that it’s looking to bring the program to more stores.

One aspect of a reusable anything is that customers must bring it with them whenever they go shopping. At their core, these items inconvenience the customer. And introducing them requires companies to be brave enough to add some friction between them and a transaction. 

One company doing so is Blue Bottle Coffee, which announced last week that “by the end of 2020, all of our US cafes will be zero waste.” The company means it: it asks customers to bring their own reusable cups, or will charge them a deposit to use one of the cafe’s, and will sell whole bean coffee in bulk to customers with their own containers rather single-use bags.

Eventually, our standard should require the use of reusable containers. The tactic taken by many food companies is to switch to materials that are more easily recycled. Clearly, this won’t be good enough. Recycling has proven to be ineffective while the world continues to drown in plastic.

The future of food shopping should be a little more difficult for everyone, especially for those who can afford it, for the sake of the planet. “Zero-waste stores” are already attempting this, demanding that their customers bring their own containers. Larger grocery chains and consumer packaged goods companies need to step up and expand efforts such as the delivery service Loop, which utilizes reusable containers.

The planet has suffered because of our thirst for convenience. It’s time for more companies to step up and demand customers give up some of that convenience.

Startup Says its Spoons and Forks Compost in as Little as 10 Days

No offense to the humble spoon (after all, this site is named after it), but it’s not as necessary for modern American diets than its pointier sibling, the fork.

And although there’s been some innovation in terms of environmentally friendly disposable spoons in the form of Planeteers’ edible spoon, there are few options for plastic fork replacements that don’t destroy the Earth. Startup TwentyFifty aims to change that with its fork, which founder Zack Kong, a bioengineering graduate from the University of California San Diego, said is “the first compostable fork in the world that’s similar in function to plastic and wooden forks.”

The difference between TwentyFifty’s technically edible products — which currently include forks and spoons but will eventually encompass chopsticks, stirrers and straws — is its patent-pending manufacturing process that compresses wheat flour, soy flour, corn flour and water into strong utensils that can withstand higher temperatures. Essentially, TwentyFifty’s spoons won’t melt soaking in a bowl of hot soup for 30 minutes. Due to the nature of the ingredients of the utensils, the company says they will break down in a backyard compost pile in as little as 10 to 30 days, while competing compostable products need to be broken down in industrial plants.

“The other benefit of this product is not just the compostability, but it’s also an organic fertilizer,” said Albert Liu, a TwentyFifty board member and business advisor. “When these utensils compost, they add 2.7 cents worth of fertilizer to the soil. We use grains to make the utensils, then they go back into the earth to help grow more grains.”

The big hurdle for the company now is cost, with retail price per utensil around 50 cents each, wholesale at 25 cents and bulk at 15 cents. That’s hugely expensive compared to plastic, which could be as cheap as pennies per utensil. TwentyFifty anticipates prices to drop to 5 to 10 cents as it scales up and automates its production line, which will allow it to produce 10,000 to 20,000 units a day. 

TwentyFifty’s target market isn’t individual consumers, however, who could just use silverware. Rather, it’s aiming to partner with universities and municipalities. Liu said the company has a vendor agreement with UC San Diego, and has partnerships in place with Malibu, Santa Monica and San Francisco, which have all placed bans on single-use plastics. The utensils can also be found at a number of California cafes and yogurt shops.

Earlier this year, the New Food Economy found that so-called compostable bowls frequently used by Chipotle and Sweetgreen actually contained “forever chemical” PFAs, which as their name suggests, don’t break down. Meanwhile, plastic pollution continues to be a global threat. So if TwentyFifty’s utensils break down like the company claims, and more environmentally friendly alternatives become available, progress can be made toward preventing future waste.

PepsiCo to Make Concentrates of its Sodas for SodaStream

If you love soda, but don’t like all the plastic associated with it, good news! Soon you can make 10 real Pepsi products like Pepsi Cola, 7 Up, Mountain Dew and more from the comfort of your own home with SodaStream (if you live in select European countries).

SodaStream, which was acquired by PepsiCo last year, announced yesterday that it will start making concentrates of popular Pepsi beverages that can be used with SodaStream devices. Calcalist was first to report on the news, saying the new concentrates will be available in Norway and Sweden first, followed by France and Germany starting in March of 2020.

Sustainability seems to be the main pitch for these concentrates as they won’t save consumers a lot of money. Calcalist writes that these homemade sodas will cost $.93 per liter, compared with $.95 for one that already comes in a bottle. But the benefit is that people won’t use as many plastic bottles in the first place.

Reducing single-use plastic bottles is a pretty good reason on its own to launch this type of endeavor, given the abysmal state of plastic recycling and the mounting levels of plastic in our oceans. PepsiCo has been testing out other ways to reduce its plastic use as well, including new flavored seltzer machines for offices, selling its Tropicana orange juice in reusable glass bottles, and using recyclable flavor pods for its Drinkfinity system.

There are two big questions that still hover over this new concentrate system, however. First, will it fare better than the Keurig Kold, which used Coca-Cola branded flavor pods to make sodas at home? That device was short-lived, being pulled after just 10 months on the market for being too expensive and too loud. Since this will use a device that many people already have, there shouldn’t be the same hardware issues.

The next question, of course, will be how closely people at home can recreate the iconic taste of their particular soda. Will the flavors match up? It seems like there’s potential for a real uncanny valley type situation where close enough really doesn’t cut it, even if you’re cutting out plastic bottle.

Fancy Countertop Water Machines Are Not the Solution to the Bottled Water Crisis

Single-use plastics are a threat to the world, and a large contributor of that waste is bottled water. The segment, led by food conglomerates including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestle, is a huge business, pulling in $16 billion in 2016 in the U.S.

It makes sense then that startups and other companies are now introducing alternatives to bottled water to prevent more plastics from entering landfills and oceans. These alternatives take the form of countertop water filters, and there’s no shortage of them. Coming soon to the market are Lang’s All-in-One Drinks System, the Rocean One and Mitte.

All offer similar features: they filter water, of course, but also carbonate or mineralize it. Lang and Rocean also offer flavoring packs. All the machines are smart, reminding users when to replace the filters, carbon and mineral cartridges and flavoring packs. They also come at a high price, with Lang costing about $555, Mitte coming in at $529 and Rocean $349. Amazingly, there are waitlists for all three devices (the later two were successfully crowdfunded).

While these companies’ goals are laudable — Rocean’s plan is “to remove 1 billion single-use bottles from circulation within five years” — it’s built on the faulty premise that Americans even need to buy bottled water in the first place. Essentially, buying an expensive machine to filter water so you don’t buy bottled water cures a problem that is entirely avoidable in the first place.

For most people in the U.S., tap water is generally safe to drink. If you want to be extra cautious, you can buy a relatively inexpensive filter such as ones made by Brita or Pur. There is also always the option of boiling water to kill potential microorganisms.

But perhaps the main reason to stop buying bottled water is that it’s not even safer to drink than most tap water (and it has more microplastics). This is due to the fact that in the U.S. and Europe, more rigorous standards are applied to tap water than bottled, according to a study commissioned by The World Wildlife Fund. So really, people are paying corporations to put water that’s of equal or lesser quality to tap water in a plastic bottle that will live on for hundreds of years.

So spare yourself from opening your wallet for what Fast Company has dubbed “the Juicero of water,” and pour yourself a nice glass or reusable bottle of tap water. Not only will you prevent another plastic bottle from entering a landfill or the ocean, you’ll save money too.

Planeteer Is Cutting Down on Plastic Waste with Cutlery You Can Eat

We all know that single-use plastics — like disposable cutlery, straws, and cups — often end up hanging out in landfills and clogging up the oceans. Some companies opt for biodegradable options, but those can also take a long time to break down.

Planeteer LLC is trying to solve the problem of single-use cutlery waste by making single-use spoons that are meant not to be thrown away or composted, but eaten. The company will be pitching live onstage at the Smart Kitchen Summit {SKS} for our first ever Future Food competition this October! Read a short Q&A with co-founder Dinesh Tadepalli below and grab your tickets to see (and taste) his innovative cutlery for yourself.

This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity.

First thing’s first: give us your 15-second elevator pitch.
Did you eat your spoon today? It’s time to ditch the single-use disposable plastic — which, though only used for a few minutes of comfort, hurts nature for hundreds of years. Let us be more creative and innovative in helping the planet be a better place for future generations by eating your spoon! Our edible cutlery revolution starts with spoons that are all-natural, vegan, protein-rich and compost in just days! They come in two shapes and fun flavors, and will stay firm up to 25 minutes in a hot soup and 50 minutes in a cold dessert.

What inspired you to start your company?
We owe our future generations the same planet we enjoy. Our mission started after our kids were born. We felt responsible not just to secure their education but also to provide them clean oceans and environment. This started our path to exploring and innovating the way to make edible cutlery. Every spoon eaten is one less plastic one in the ocean!

What’s the most challenging part of getting a food startup off the ground?
Being a new concept and more expensive than a plastic spoon, our most challenging part is convincing customers that they can eat the spoon, literally! Our flavors and win-win pricing strategy helped all the sections of the business from manufacturing to the end customer. Now, we have about 20 shops selling these spoons for a minimal add-on cost, where the customer can leave the shop with gratitude and empowerment that they have not wasted another plastic spoon today.

How will your company change the day-to-day life of consumers and the food space as a whole?
We strive to replace all the single-use plastic spoons with a spoon you can eat. Edible Coffee stirrers are next. Take-out food is a huge market in US, so just imagine how many plastic spoons can be saved from oceans and landfills if we make a conscious switch.

A few minutes of eating ice cream with a plastic spoon leaves 500 years of impact on the planet. Our only goal is to help customers provide better alternatives to single-use plastic.

Get your tickets to SKS 2019 now to meet all the Future Food companies and give their products a taste!

TIPA Raises $25M for Its Plastic-Like Compostable Packaging

Reuters published a depressing animated graphic last week that showed how big the world’s addiction to plastic bottles is (picture a mountain next Manhattan). Three hundred and eighty million metric tons of plastic was created in 2015, with more than 80 percent of that plastic was discarded or incinerated.

The good news is that as the world wakes up to this synthetic nightmare, startups around the globe are tackling the issue. One of them, Israeli company TIPA, announced this week that it has raised $25 million in funding for its plastic-like, fully compostable packaging. Blue Horizon Ventures, Triodos Organic Growth Fund participated in the round with existing investors Chestnut and GreenSoil Investments on board as well. This brings the total amount raised by TIPA to $49 million.

TIPA makes a number of different packaging products including produce bags, whole bean coffee bags, snack pouches, baked good bags, and more. The TIPA website is pretty vague about the properties of its plastic-like materials, saying only that its material will break down within 180 days at an industrial composting facility. In an interview with CTech in June, TIPA said, “Depending on the type of packaging and shape, the compostable plastic is made up of anywhere from 20-60% plant-based ingredients, such as non-genetically modified corn.”

TIPA is a B2B company and doesn’t sell consumer storage products. It doesn’t relay specifics about price and any sort of parity with traditional plastic, with the FAQ providing just that “The pricing of our products is contingent on various parameters such as quantity, the product inside the package, the thickness of the material, printing options, shelf life needed and more.”

As noted, lots of startups are looking to reinvent our food packaging with more eco-friendly materials. CuanTec makes packaging out of shellfish waste, Decomer makes plant-based water-soluble packaging, and Zume Inc acquired Pivot Packaging to make its own line of compostable molded fiber pizza containers.

The plastic we’ve already made may last pretty much forever, but hopefully these up-and-coming technologies can scale up fast enough to make traditional plastic a thing of the past.