Obeo and FoodCloud make the most of our food waste

Food waste is a growing concern for households and commercial entities, but a couple of start-ups are trying to tackle the problem. The average household throws away a remarkable quarter of a tonne of food waste every year, a lot of which ends up in landfill, which is bad news for soil and methane emissions.

According to Liz Fingleton and Kate Purcell, founders of food-waste recycling product Obeo, about two out of three Irish households do not use their brown bins properly. Since we are now keeping our food waste in kitchens and bins for longer, a "yuck factor" has entered the equation.

Obeo is trying to bypass that with its product, a fully recyclable brown paper and card pouch that acts as a container for countertop and sink food waste. The compostable box is becoming more widely used all the time.

Purcell did a master's in design sustainability in NCAD, while Fingleton has an accountancy background with KPMG.

“If we could solve all the yuck factors in the kitchen it would help people contribute and have positive environmental behaviours, so the normal customer who isn’t an eco-warrior can help the environment in a small way,” says Fingleton. Obeo boxes don’t leak or tear and, when full, are just thrown into a household’s brown bin without any mess. Obeo now sells in more than 200 supermarkets around the country, retailing at €2.50 for a three-pack. Fingleton and Purcell also recently raised more funding for marketing, “so expect to hear a lot more from us over the next while”, Fingleton says.

When it comes to broader commercial food waste, there is FoodCloud, a start-up founded by Aoibhinn O'Brien and Iseult Ward that helps businesses to donate surplus food to charities in their communities.

With 1.3 billion tonnes of food wasted every year and 550 trillion litres of water used to grow crops that are never eaten, large-scale food waste is a massive issue in a world where hungry people do not get the food that others aren’t using.

FoodCloud's platform allows businesses to upload details of surplus food, allowing a local charity to collect it directly. The start-up has consistently won awards since it was founded and this month made it into the Voom Virgin Media Business pitching competition semi-final where they will now hope to be chosen from a workshop and get to pitch to Richard Branson, Tyra Banks and other entrepreneurs.

These two companies are really making the most of what others throw away.