Opportunity Proposal: Launching Earth-cycler For Sustainable Food Waste Recycling

Discuss about the Improving Realism And Relevance Of Mouth-Throat.

The opportunity proposal is aimed at showing the opportunity in the proposed business, which is the launch of a recycling machine that will be used in food waste recycling in smaller settings like homes and small and medium companies. It will be known as earth-cycler. The opportunity proposal is being presented to investors as the project needs funding hence the owners have decided to pitch to potential investors who will then have a stake in the business. The business owners are three college friends who all have a great passion for environmental activities. Two of the owners have studied environmental science while one has studied mechanical engineering.

The product, known as earth-cycler is a recycling machine aimed at smaller uses like homes and small businesses. There is a need to come up with sustainable recycling solutions since pollution is a big problem in the current global setting. Between 33-50 percent of the food produced all over the world is never eaten but wasted. The wastage is estimated to cost about over $ 1 trillion. In the United States for example, food waste represents more than 1.3% of the total Gross Domestic Product. It is very bad for the environment due to the emission of harmful gases. As food is grown, people are moved, deforestation occurs and some animal species become almost extinct (Girotto, Alibardi & Cossu,2015). All this happens and then the food is wasted. The food that is not eaten represents about 25% of the fresh water that is consumed all over the world. It means that many resources used in making food are wasted. A majority of the food waste ends up in a landfill where it is forced to decompose without access to oxygen hence creating methane which is twenty-three times more lethal than carbon dioxide. This creates a need to come up with an efficient way of recycling food waste. Food waste is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the China and the United States. As much as everyone may deny it, more than 50 percent of food waste occurs in people’s homes. In contrast to this, less than 2percent of food waste happens at retail stores (Aschemann-Witzel et al.,2015). In the United Kingdom for example, an average family throws away over 22 percent of the weekly shopping that costs more than £700 yearly. In the Unites states this is worth $2,275 annually.

Product Analysis

As demonstrated by the above statistics, there is a need to have a solution for homes so that the percentage of food waste that gets to landfills is reduced significantly. Further to this, families will become more conscious of how food waste ends up harming the environment, hence they will take more responsibility when handling their food waste (Parizeau, von Massow & Martin,2015). The need needs to be met so that future families can have a sustainable future.

The major customers for earth-cycler is homes and small retailers who also have a myriad of food waste. Currently many customers are forced to have their garbage collected, and then they are taken to landfills. Small retailers also face this challenge. Some consumers however take their waste to recyclers who are not that many hence it may not be very viable (Hansen, 2014). The thought of carrying one’s waste and taking it to a recycler is a daunting task, hence many give up on this and prefer that their garbage be collected and taken to dumpsites.

The earth cycler intends to sort this issue since it will be a portable recycler that can easily be transported and accommodated by consumers in their homes. The recycler will be made from very light and bio-degradable material and will be suitable for small homes or businesses. Depending on market viability and customer feedback, earth-cycler will be made in sizes that can also cover medium businesses like restaurants, schools and supermarkets. The beauty of this machine is that once the food waste has gone through recycling, the final product is compost, which is brilliant for gardening and farming (Mourad,2016). Further to this, the earth cycler has been designed in a way that very little energy is used in carrying out the recycling processes. The process will take only 2 hours to have the food waste recycled and compost produced.

Project Viability-It is a belief that this project is very viable since most of the recycling companies are quite huge and specialize in different products that may not contain food waste. There is a huge gap in the market especially when it comes to home recycling of food waste. This gap needs to be filled so that more and more people embrace recycling and are aware of environmental issues since pollution will greatly affect the future. The viability of the project can also be defended by the fact that several consumers find it quite stressful to deposit food waste hence this will be a perfect solution for them. In most homes, food waste makes up the largest percentage of waste hence it will be great if this solution is implemented. The project is also viable since it will enable the reduction of methane, which is very harmful to the environment (Chiew et al.,2015).

Customers

Competition-The project managers have greatly considered competition that they will face with the proposed product. Currently there are several products that have emerged, for example green-cycler, but the industry is huge and there is a huge market that is still untapped. There is still a very wide market that is not aware that such recycling products exist hence the company will create consumer awareness that will enable it to capture the market (Grant,206). The owners of the project believe that with aggressive marketing, several consumers will become aware and take up the product.

Capability-This project is believed to be highly capable of working. The earth-cycler will be made up of material that is affordable but very strong and biodegradable. A lot of testing has been carried out to ensure that the product is working. The owners have gone further and physically tested the product at a grocery store and five homes which produce different waste sizes. The machine works by composting food waste in two hours (Porter & Magretta,2014). During this phase, any faults with the machine were noted and this has enabled the company to refine the product to what it is now. The earth-cycler is easy to operate and very portable hence can be easily moved around by homes.

As demonstrated by the business model canvas below, the value proposition of the business to the customer is to provide a solution that will enable efficient food waste management (Moogk,2012). Consumers will be able to save the costs of using fuel to take waste to recycling centres. Further to this, the main achievement will be to reduce the emission of methane, which is very harmful to the environment (Dimitrov,2016). This will lead consumers to live in an environment that is healthy for them. The production of compost from food waste will enable consumers to have something to use in their gardens and those who produce a lot of compost can sell for a profit. The government and environmental associations will also get value since greenhouse gases will be reduced and the cost spent on this will go down (Drumwright,2017). Further to this, consumers will be more aware about how food waste can be dangerous to the environment. several consumers are ignorant on this and the project will enable them to be more proactive when it comes to environmental issues.

A report written by Winfrey (2014) provides the validation needed to go ahead with this business. According to him, turning food waste to something good is not easy but many companies have started doing this project. Food waste is being converted into renewable energy and other products like fertilizer. A few laws are being formulated that require food waste to be part of recyclables. Recyclers are being required to separate food waste from trash. One of the businesses that has found opportunity in food waste recycling is Turning Earth, which produces electricity and natural gas through anaerobic digestion. Quest Recycling is another company which converts food waste into fuels, animal feeds and bio-diesel. Missouri Organic also converts recycled food to compost hence keeping tons of waste out of landfills. Several states would like to implement food waste recycling on a large scale but it requires a robust infrastructure. Due to this, the earth-cycler is a great idea since it will enable the states to achieve a huge amount of recycling done in homes, offices and small businesses, the amount of food that goes into landfills will be drastically reduced when many consumers take up the earth-cycler.

Project Viability, Competition and Capability

The team will first come up with a minimum viable product to test the market and sell to consumers. To come up with the minimum viable product, the company will build an earth-cycler with simpler materials that may not be fully bio-degradable. The technology used will take 5 hours to compost food rather than the proposed two hours (Olsen,2015). This is because the technology that will be used will be more affordable though less strong than the previously proposed one. The earth-cycler will also be abit heavier by about 300 grams, due to the materials that will be used. Further to this, less sophisticated software will be used so that there can be savings on costs. This prototype will be once again tested in the market by sampling on a grocery store, office and the homes of five consumers (Copley, Director & Park,2015). The owners will take customer feedback and note any faults, which will then be improved on. It is very important that the owners observe how the earth-cycler works in the state of minimum viable product. The company will still be able to attract consumers and sell its products, so long as it has no faults and works fine.

The project faces several challenges as elaborated below:

Supplier- The material that will be used in creation of the earth-cycler is only available from very few suppliers, hence can pose a challenge when the company is low on supplies (Burns,2016). The owners intend to solidify relationships with at least three suppliers once the project is approved so that they never run out of the biodegradable material required to come up with the earth-cyclers.

Government Approval-The process for approval of such a project is quite lengthy and passes through many steps. It may therefore take time for the government to fully approve the project (Bocen,2015). The owners hope to meet government officials to explain to them the importance of the project and how it will be of benefit to all the citizens.

Financing-At the beginning of the project, quite a lot of financing is required since the owners need to produce several units, market the product and launch into the market. Further to this, the owners must setup office and hire staff and other technological resources. In the beginning, a manufacturer will be subcontracted to do the work but the company intends to have its own factory in future (Markides,2015). The owners are looking for investors whom they can partner with so that the project can kick off.

References

Aschemann-Witzel, J., de Hooge, I., Amani, P., Bech-Larsen, T., & Oostindjer, M. (2015). Consumer-related food waste: causes and potential for action. Sustainability, 7(6), 6457-6477.

Bocken, N. M. P. (2015). Sustainable venture capital–catalyst for sustainable start-up success? Journal of Cleaner Production, 108, 647-658.

Burns, P. (2016). Entrepreneurship and small business. NY, Palgrave Macmillan Limited.

Chiew, Y. L., Spångberg, J., Baky, A., Hansson, P. A., & Jönsson, H. (2015). Environmental impact of recycling digested food waste as a fertilizer in agriculture—A case study. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 95, 1-14.

Copley, M., Director, S., & Park, C. Q. B. (2015). Improving the realism and relevance of mouth-throat models for inhaled product testing. ONdrugDelivery Magazine, 57, 32-37.

Dimitrov, D. V. (2016). Medical internet of things and big data in healthcare. Healthcare informatics research, 22(3), 156-163.

Drumwright, H. (2017). Minimum Viable Stuff. In management vs. Employees (pp. 75-83). Apress.

Girotto, F., Alibardi, L., & Cossu, R. (2015). Food waste generation and industrial uses: a review. Waste management, 45, 32-41.

Grant, R. M. (2016). Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley & Sons.

Hansen, T. C. (2014). Recycling of demolished concrete and masonry. NY, CRC Press.

Markides, C. C. (2015). Research on business models: Challenges and opportunities. In Business models and modelling (pp. 133-147). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Moogk, D. R. (2012). Minimum viable product and the importance of experimentation in technology start-ups. Technology Innovation management Review, 2(3), 23.

Mourad, M. (2016). Recycling, recovering and preventing “food waste”: competing solutions for food systems sustainability in the United States and France. Journal of Cleaner Production, 126, 461-477.

Olsen, D. (2015). The lean product playbook: How to innovate with minimum viable products and rapid customer feedback. John Wiley & Sons.

Parizeau, K., von Massow, M., & Martin, R. (2015). Household-level dynamics of food waste production and related beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours in Guelph, Ontario. Waste management, 35, 207-217.

Porter, M., & Magretta, J. (2014). Strategy and Competition: The Porter Collection (3 Items). London, Harvard Business Review Press.

Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/graham-winfrey/what-you-need-to-know-about-food-recycling.html

Sprenger, M. (2016, September). Supporting the Viability of E-Health Services with Pattern-Based Business Model Design. In International Conference on Well-Being in the Information Society (pp. 161-175). Springer International Publishing

Tongur, S., & Engwall, M. (2014). The business model dilemma of technology shifts. Technovation, 34(9), 525-535.

Winfrey, G. (2014). 3 Companies Finding Opportunities in Food Recycling