This country will pay you to bicycle to work

Good for your health, the planet and your pocket

May 05, 2023

Belgium wants to promote cycling to and from work.

Its National Labour Council has decided that all employees would be entitled to 27 euro cents per km if they cycle to work.

Employees would be paid along with their wages and can claim an allowance of up to 40km per day.

So if you have a 5 km commute, you could pocket ~€50/month.

Employees can use that to pay for bike subscriptions and parking as well.

Good for your health, the planet, and your pocket.

Moving onto this week’s content. So today, we have👇🏽

A startup that’s converting food waste into useable ingredients
Another startup that’s using seaweed to replace plastic
Some good news
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🌿 Converting food waste into useable ingredients

Costly Losses…1/3rd of the food produced is never consumed. It’s wasted in different steps of the food supply chain. Every time we waste food, we also waste energy and water that was used to grow it. Not to forget the nutrients that are lost in the process.

WINX™-ing Against Food Waste…Australian startup Whole. has decided to solve two problems together- eliminate food waste and ensure that humans get all the necessary nutrients. It has built a proprietary technology called WINX™- Whole Ingredient Nutrient Extraction process. It’s a zero-waste, enhanced nutrient extraction technology.

Supermarkets usually reject fruits and vegetables that look ugly or low-grade but are still high in nutritional value.
With the WINX™ technology, this rejected or low-grade produce is processed into a superior whole-food ingredient.
This locks away the nutrition and flavor and the whole-food ingredient can be used directly by food manufacturers.

*Co-Founders Nick Stamatiou and Cedric Cross at their nutrition lab*

Waste-Free Tech…WINX™ technology does not use any chemical processing. The process prevents low-grade food from being wasted and helps food producers earn more revenue. Also, it ensures that nutrition is not lost in the process.

Check out Whole.

🔀Using seaweed to replace plastic

Plastic Pollution Peril…Look around yourself and you will notice that our life is surrounded by plastic. Most of it is produced using fossil fuels. Since fossil fuels are involved, the production of plastic causes emissions. Once we dispose it off, if it’s not recycled (which is usually the case), it would end up in landfill or oceans.

Weeding Out Plastic…Macro Oceans is tackling that in a unique way. It is using seaweed to replace plastic in our cosmetics, packaging, and food. Seaweed grows using only sunlight and seawater and doesn’t need any irrigation, fertilizer, or land. It grows quickly, sucks up a lot of carbon and it can biodegrade really fast.

It can be used to make paper and packaging products.
It can replace plastic in a variety of other industries like textiles, polymers, pesticides, fertilizers, dyes.
Macro Oceans sources its seaweed from growers in Alaska which grow them sustainably in ocean farms.

*Seaweed farming which doesn’t require any irrigation, fertilizer, or land*

Partnering for reduction…It is also working with innovators and startups to develop new markets and applications for seaweed. This could be in both consumer and commercial industries. This would ensure that less plastic is manufactured and dumped on our land and oceans.

Check out Macro Oceans