Seedstars joins The SUP Challenge to support startups in Thailand and the Philippines to reduce plastic waste

Seedstars will be participating in The SUP Challenge with projects in Thailand and the Philippines. Organized by The Incubation Network and PREVENT Waste Alliance, with support from ECCA Family Foundation, The SUP Challenge is an acceleration program that aims to support local entrepreneurs, SMEs, and startups across South and Southeast Asia working on solutions that focus on the reduction of Single-Use Plastics (SUP). Participants will receive support to design and run pilot solutions with local F&B companies as well as the opportunity to secure a pilot grant. Interested applicants can sign up here before May 16, 2022: https://seedsta.rs/theSUPchallenge

In South and Southeast Asia, there is an increasing demand for packaging, particularly SUPs, 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% of the market for food packaging in the region.

The food service industry heavily utilizes single-use packaging, from the purchase of food supplies to preparation. This is especially so for off-premise food services such as deliveries, drive-throughs, and

takeaways, which have increased dramatically in light of COVID-19, becoming a lifeline for some operators. Being entirely reliant on their supply chains, the sector is unaccustomed to working with alternative solutions by early-stage companies.

Alternative solutions are mostly driven by early-stage companies that struggle to overcome various challenges, including a lack of capital, collaborative industry partners, managerial experience, underdeveloped value chains, and complex policy and regulatory frameworks.

To encourage the creation of more sustainable solutions, the SUP Challenge was organized by The Incubation Network, an initiative by SecondMuse and The Circulate Initiative, and The PREVENT Waste Alliance as a regional project to provide support in SUP reduction. Eight projects, including two from Seedstars have been selected to be piloted under the challenge.

The SUP Challenge will be choosing up to 20 participants will be selected to join the Seedstars program under The SUP Challenge and receive support to design and run pilot solutions with the accelerator’s local F&B partners (in Thailand and the Philippines) to help them reduce plastic waste.

Selected participants will get full access to the SUP program activities including F&B partner pilot matching and support; capacity building workshops; 1:1 mentorship; and the opportunity to secure a pilot grant.

“Startups with innovative solutions have the potential to reshape the role of single-use plastics in the food and beverage sector. Through our regional network of partner organizations, such as Seedstars, we look forward to building capacity in these solutions with our support and piloting them in the market with local F&B partners,” shared Simon Baldwin, Global Head of Circularity, SecondMuse.

Qualified participants must meet the following criteria:

Must be an  early-stage entrepreneur, startup, or SME based in Thailand or the Philippines

Product/service being provided should be applicable to helping reduce SUPs in the F&B industry

Required to have existing product/services that will be ready to run a short pilot with the accelerator’s local F&B partners in August 2022

This project is funded by the PREVENT Waste Alliance, an initiative of the German Federal Government and ECCA Family Foundation. More information: https://prevent-waste.net/en/.

To become part of The SUP Challenge, send in your applications before May 16, 2022 here: https://seedsta.rs/theSUPchallenge