STRAW BY LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 1 of 17
DESIGNED TO DISAPPEAR LOLIWARE s Straw is a viable solution to plastic straw waste because of it s categorization as an organic, meaning it can be tossed into Food Waste bins and composted along with food scraps. -- Ron Gonen, Managing Partner, Closed Loop Fund, Former Deputy Commissioner of Sanitation, Recycling and Sustainability: Bloomberg Administration in NYC, Co-Founder and CEO, Recycle Bank LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 2 of 17
THE STRAW OF THE FUTURE LEAVES NOTHING BEHIND Our mission is to remove plastic straw waste entirely from the waste stream by creating a new generation of straw: LOLISTRAW A home compostable and edible straw which is categorized as an organic. LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 3 of 17
ABOUT US LOLIWARE BIODEGR(EDIBLE)S is the world s first Edible Bioplastic Company dedicated to replacing plastic with edible materials. The first product that launched was the Cup of the Future - a 5oz Edible Drinking Cup. For their product launch, the team seeks to replace 500M plastic straws with the world s first edible, compostable straw: LOLISTRAW. THE TEAM LOLIWARE was founded by award-winning industrial designers and innovation mavericks, Leigh Ann Tucker & Chelsea Briganti who met while studying at Parsons : School of Design in 2007. Before launching LOLIWARE, the duo worked on innovation pipelines for Pepsi Co., Coca Cola, Nestlé, Waterford, & Pernod Ricard. >>Two senior food scientists joined the team in 2017 with 22 years of combined experience >>One of the best process engineers in the United States is joining the team next month to scale LOLISTRAW and LOLIZERO (a sugar-free edible bioplastic) >>LOLIWARE has a manufacturing partner in Mexico & a dedicated Plant Manager with 20 years of plant management experience at Mars. NOTABLE INVESTORS LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 4 of 17
CASE 3: STRAWS & TAKE-AWAY LIDS To-go drinks like coffee or juices are iconic symbols of our time. Offering much-needed refreshments, these drinks are provided with a surprisingly large amount of non-recycled plastics. Straws, coffee cups and their lids lead to an astounding amount of waste which, although both the plastics and cup liner are technically recyclable. In addition, straws often come with additional wrapper packaging or as non-recyclable part of other packaging. How might we continue to provide drinks on the go whilst designing out the creation of this waste? THE PROBLEM Across the U.S., we use and toss around 500 million plastic straws each day, which totals out to around 12 million pounds of plastic waste [landfilled] over a year. - StrawlessOcean.org WHAT OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE NOW? 1. PLA compostable straws - pro: plant based instead of petroleum based - con: does not compost like an organic, is considered a contaminant for most composting facilities and is sent to landfill 2. Paper compostable straws - pro: home compostable - con: is not being adopted rapidly by high volume food service businesses, FastCo. notes, Paper straws, despite being more sustainable, are relatively uncommon, and have a reputation for not being all that sturdy. DESIGNED TO DISAPP 3. Reusable straws - pro: replaces plastic - con: does not fill customer need for to-go convenience, not enough people are currently willing to change their behavior to adopt this option for large scale impact to be made. LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 5 of 17
RESEARCH SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING COALITION CONDUCTED FIVE CASE STUDIES TO EXAMINE THE ROLE OF COMPOSTING IN WASTE DIVERSION AND THE LINKAGE TO COMPOSTABLE PACKAGING. Among their findings: At a closed venue with 20,000 attendees, recycling alone was deemed to offer a diversion pathway for 24% of all waste, while adding a composting stream for food waste upped that figure to 55%, and including compostable food packaging brought the diversion potential to 81%, amounting to 17 tons of waste that would otherwise be destined for the landfill. - Rob Watson in Waste Diversion needs Organics Diversion, and Organics Diversion Needs Compostable Packaging Now that separating organics and food waste is required in NYC, food service facilities are constantly working to keep their organics stream clean since contamination, such as plastic utensils and plastic cups, can be costly to clean out. In order to keep plastics and other contaminants out, they need to pay for either customer and staff education, labor to sort the waste in-house, or fees for the hauler to sort it after pick-up. The ideal scenario is that all food and servingware can go into the organics bin, but PLA compostable products are not a solution. Most compost and anaerobic digestion facilities consider PLA to be a contaminant because they will not breakdown into compost at the same rate as food waste. These businesses are in need of solutions that reduce the costs related to contamination and to maximize the value created from an effective organics program. - Ron Gonen, Managing Partner, Closed Loop Fund, Former Deputy Commissioner of Sanitation, Recycling and Sustainability: Bloomberg Administration in NYC, Co-Founder and CEO, Recycle Bank LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 6 of 17
RESEARCH INSIGHTS New organics separation legislation in NYC and other leader cities opens option to work within mandated organics composting systems. Composting programs including compostable packaging increases waste diversion (from 24% to 81% in one venue case study!) PLA compostables are usually considered a contaminant like plastics. Major pain point for food service facilities in composting waste is contamination from plastics and PLA. This is adding operational cost to businesses and they are seeking solutions. LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 7 of 17
MEET LOLISTRAW A SINGLE-STREAM WASTE SOLUTION 100% COMPOSTABLE IN THE ORGANICS STREAM 100% FUN-FORWARD SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVE TO PLASTIC STRAWS OFFERS A NEW & EXCITING EXPERIENCE WITH FLAVORS/ NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS REDUCES OPERATIONAL COST BY ELIMINATING PLASTIC CONTAMINATION LOLIWARE s Straw is a viable solution to plastic straw waste because of it s categorization as an organic, meaning it can be tossed into Food Waste bins and composted along with food scraps. This makes life easier for three user groups: #1: Consumers can still have their straws, #2: Businesses can reduce their operational costs and eliminate plastic contamination, & #3: Waste haulers can collect and process organic streams with minimal sorting. - Ron Gonen, Managing Partner, Closed Loop Fund, Former Deputy Commissioner of Sanitation, Recycling and Sustainability: Bloomberg Administration NYC Co- LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 8 of 17
USER TESTING STARBUCKS: UNION SQUARE & MEATPACKING, NYC It s pretty strong, even putting it in multiple times....likes the flavored straw for water or tea... After about 20 min it was hard to pull the straw out as it becomes softer. A little more resistant would be very good. - Sam, Starbucks customer It looks like the Starbucks straw, love it!...it works just like a regular straw. - Kathryn, Starbucks customer Starbucks manager: Thinks unflavored version to replace all straws is more interesting than flavored to tell story of replacing plastic. He says flavored risks being compared to their novelty cookie straw. LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 9 of 17
USER TESTING CHA CHA MATCHA & HU KITCHEN, NYC You can sorta taste it! (drinking from unflavored straw) - Hu Kitchen customer It delivers like a regular straw...when do you start to enjoy the bite? - Len Mayer It sucks! (like a straw should!) - Cha Cha employee Observations: - Some people want to bite in right away or after one sip before drink has softened straw enough to bite through easily. LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 10 of 17
PRODUCT TESTING COMPARING STRAW DURABILITY: Tested drinking a cup of water over 3 hrs. The thickest version LOLISTRAW held up for the full duration, the thinnest version was pinched and broken by the plastic lid, the narrow version started to pinch but still functioned. LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 11 of 17
USER EXPERIENCE MAP SCENARIO #1: straw cost as add on 1. Lucas stops at Starbucks on his way to work for his morning coffee. He orders an iced coffee and notices a new menu item: edible straws, interesting! 2. There are a few options: Vanilla, Carmel, or Extra Shot. He s feeling a little tired this AM and decides to try the Extra Shot for $0.50. 3. The barista calls his name and hands him his regular iced coffee with the Extra Shot straw placed on top of the cup. 4. Lucas takes the straw out of its paper wrap and notices that it feels very similar to a plastic straw, but has a pleasant coffee aroma and color. 5. After adding a bit of cream at the condiment bar, he caps the cup, puts the straw in, and takes a sip. It feels and works just like a regular straw. 6. He continues the drink his coffee on the subway ride, noticing that the straw is becoming a bit more flexible as he drinks. 7. By the time he arrives at work his coffee is almost finished and he decides to go in for a bite. It has a lightly sweet coffee taste, it is surprisingly tasty! 8. Lucas heads to his first meeting of the day, happy to feel more energized. He shows off his edible straw to his co-workers before finishing it. LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 12 of 17
USER EXPERIENCE MAP SCENARIO #2: straw cost included 1. Nigel stops at Starbucks on his way to work and orders his morning iced coffee. The barista asks if he would like an edible straw. 2. There are a few options: Vanilla and Carmel sweetened with stevia, or Classic Unsweetened. He decides on the vanilla flavor. 3. The barista calls his name and hands him his regular iced coffee with the Vanilla straw placed on top of the cup. 4. Nigel takes the straw out of its paper wrap and notices that it feels very similar to a plastic straw, but has a sweet vanilla aroma. 5. After adding a bit of cream at the condiment bar, he caps the cup, puts the straw in, and takes a sip. It feels and works just like a regular straw. 6. He continues the drink his coffee on the subway ride, noticing that the straw is becoming a bit more flexible and he can taste a hint of vanilla as he sips. 7. By the time he arrives at work his coffee is almost finished and he decides to go in for a bite. It has a soft texture and is surprisingly tasty! 8. Nigel heads to his first meeting of the day. On the way, he stops in the kitchen to drop his cup in the recycling and straw into the compost bin. LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 13 of 17
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NYC LAUNCH STRATEGY Composting infrastructure is in place to support new requirement for food service facilities to separate organic waste, ensuring LOLISTRAWS can be easily composted with organics. Opportunity to help businesses reduce their operational costs to comply with this requirement. Targeted brand partners to launch with: >> Google, who is installing an anaerobic digester in their NYC offices Concept: Replace plastic straws at their cafeteria with LOLISTRAWS including MCT oil infused for enhanced cognitive function at work. >> Starbucks [coffee] Concept: Extra Shot Straws, Flavor Straws including Vanilla and Caramel, Classic Sweet and Green (unflavored) >> Pressed Juicery [juice & smoothie] Concept: Booster Straws such as energy, cricket protein, or MCT >> Sweet Green [fast casual] Concept: Flavor Straws for iced teas and Green (unflavored) >> Madison Square Garden [stadium/venue] Concept: Offer Flavor Straws for beverages in phase one, phase two replace plastic with unflavored LOLISTRAWS Scale-up goal: partner with the DOE/NYC public schools to replace plastic straws with LOLISTRAWS LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 15 of 17
PATH TO SCALE + ACCELERATOR OBJECTIVES 1. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT - Work with our food science team to develop the material to optimize durability. - Conduct user testing and refine product for the best possible user experience. - Review product with other stakeholders for validation and to consider any concerns in our product refinement: food service facilities managers, waste haulers, composting facilities, anaerobic digester producers, NYC Department of Sanitation. - Conduct material testing understand all characteristics including breakdown time in compost, anaerobic digestion, waterways Outcome: MVP ready for market 2. PROCESS ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING - Work with both our food science team and process engineer to design the most efficient and cost effective manufacturing method for high volume production, identify equipment needs and any other resource requirements. - Source and vet manufacturing partners for aligned production capabilities, work with them on cost per unit quotes and capacity. Outcome: Final cost/straw ready for customers and manufacturer lined up for production. 3. MICRO PILOT - Run a 2 month micro pilot at an NYC cafe + an NYC juice bar to evaluate customer reaction, user experience, operational efficiencies, and to test our business model assumptions. - Run sample production with manufacturing partner to supply the pilot. - Use learnings from pilot to adjust as needed: business model, customer communications, product, or packaging. Outcome: Refined product ready with case study to pitch target brand partners continued... LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 16 of 17
PATH TO SCALE + ACCELERATOR OBJECTIVES 4. BRAND PARTNERSHIPS - Pitch LOLISTRAW to target brand partners within each segment: Starbucks (coffee), Google (corporate food service), Pressed Juicery (juice & smoothie) - Secure partnerships and create launch plan together (timeline, roll-out, marketing) Outcome: Partnerships made with purchase orders in place for LOLISTRAW launch 5. NYC LOLISTRAW LAUNCH - Set up automated manufacturing with required equipment, run plant trials, and begin running full scale production. - Execute launch with brand partners, continuously evaluating and incorporating learnings into product development. - Evaluate ways to improve efficiencies and lower costs - Measure environmental impact made Outcome: LOLISTRAW in production, replacing plastic straws in NYC, diverting tons of waste from the landfill into compost/ biogas, building product awareness with influential brands, collecting data for continuous improvement. SCALING STRATEGY >> Post-accelerator: In the 2nd phase of scaling we will expand nationally, focusing on other US states and cities with composting mandates and infrastructure in place. >> These currently include: California, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Austin, and growing! >> Our NYC brand partners with national reach will be the first to expand LOLISTRAW across the US >> We will also need to secure national food service distribution (aramark, imperial paper, us foods, sysco, compass group, sodexo) LOLIWARE OpenIDEO Circular Design Challenge Aug 31, 2017 17 of 17