*In the final week leading up to the *Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SBIO) finals presented by Target on June 5th, where the runner-up will be decided via live online public vote, we will feature daily articles introducing our semi-finalists. Today, meet Fenugreen,
Some of the best ideas are the simplest ones. Boston-based social enterprise Fenugreen is using its simple product, FreshPaper, to tackle a complex problem — global food waste.
FreshPaper is an inexpensive, compostable, recyclable thin organic paper insert that reduces food spoilage.
The key ingredients? Organic spices. These spices inhibit bacterial and fungal growth, as well as slow down the ripening process. A small sheet of Freshpaper, comparable to the size of a dryer sheet (5”x 5”), can keep produce fresh for 2-4 times longer, approximately 75 percent the effectiveness of refrigeration.
With such a simple design combined with its efficiency, the applications for FreshPaper are endless.
In fact, Fenugreen is positioning the product to be used from farm to fork. FreshPaper sheets can simply be dropped into refrigerator drawers, as well as in boxes or bags of perishable food. It also can be used for large-scale food shipping and distribution. In addition, direct contact or wrapping is not necessary.
However, what makes FreshPaper particularly fascinating is not only its wide range of applications, but also the journey of its discovery, beginning with its humble start as a middle school science project.
Fenugreen founder and FreshPaper inventor Kavita Shukla was visiting her grandmother in India as a young girl, when she accidentally drank contaminated tap water. However, thanks to a spice tea that her grandmother prepared, Shukla avoided becoming ill. This incident then piqued Shukla’s interest in the potential antimicrobial properties of her grandmother’s home remedy. She researched several possible applications, including dipping strawberries into the tea. She realized the spice mixture kept the strawberries fresh longer, and this process eventually led to her create FreshPaper.
By the age of 17, as a high school senior, Shukla had received a patent for FreshPaper. She then went on to study economics at Harvard University with the objective of starting a nonprofit whose mission would be to reduce global food waste, thanks to her invention.
“I thought that it could really help people like my grandma, who grew up without access to refrigeration,” says Shukla.
However, Shukla struggled with the best way of bringing her innovative product to market.
“In college, I couldn’t figure out how to get it to people. I realized how hard it could be to give something away for free. I started to think it didn’t have any real-world applications, because I had tried and failed,” says Shukla.
After college, she decided to give up on FreshPaper for a bit and set her sights on pursuing a PhD. However, it was her graduate school application process that renewed her entrepreneurial aspirations, and her social mission.
“There was a question on one of my grad school applications that said, ‘What has been your biggest regret?’ I wrote down that I had created this invention as a kid, and my regret was not working on it anymore, because I wanted to do something about global food waste,” Shukla says. “After I wrote my essays, I had my friend, Swaroop Samant, read them over. As a doctor, he was fascinated by FreshPaper's public health applications and encouraged me to keep working on my idea."
Last summer, with no funding and no experience in the food industry, the duo decided to take FreshPaper to a local farmers' market in Cambridge, MA. They shared handmade pieces of FreshPaper to anyone who stopped by and received an extremely favorable reception to their product.
“We started to hear from people we had met at the farmers' market, and they shared stories about how FreshPaper was helping them eat more fresh, healthy food and waste less,” says Shukla. “After that, everything started falling into place. A local co-op signed us on, and within a year, simply through word of mouth, we were shipping FreshPaper to folks across the U.S and launching in Whole Foods. Today, we've shipped FreshPaper to farmers and families in over 35 countries.”
The pair has continued to test FreshPaper with different materials and applications. Together they have several patents — Shukla holds three patents, with four pending, and Samant has two pending. However, they remain steadfast in the their commitment to their environmental and social goals.
“We are committed to sustainability," Shukla says. "FreshPaper is recyclable, biodegradable and compostable, and made in the US. Today, we're striving to make the food system not only more sustainable, but more accessible."
Since taking that first step at the farmers' market, Shukla has also been able to realize her childhood goal of using FreshPaper to help those who need it most, locally and internationally.
“Fenugreen is developing small pilot projects with farmers in India and Africa, where we are working to determine how FreshPaper can best help them reduce post-harvest loss,” says Shukla.
The social enterprise also has launched a "Buy a Pack, Give a Pack" initiative, where for every FreshPaper pack sold, a matching amount is donated to a local food bank.
Fenugreen has also received many accolades over the past year. In addition to being a Sustainable Brands Innovation Open semi-finalist, Fenugreen has garnered recognition from the Women in the World Foundation, The Economist, Lemelson-MIT Foundation, the Cartier Women’s Initiative, the Swiss Consulate, the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Startup America.
Furthermore, Shukla has spoken for TEDxManhanttan and has been inducted into the National Gallery for America’s Young Inventors.
“FreshPaper is powerful because it's so simple — it can be used by anyone, in any part in the world."
FreshPaper is sold in retailers nationwide, including Whole Foods, and ships to over 35 countries. Visit Fenugreen's website to learn more about its innovative method of tackling global food waste.
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Published May 30, 2013 8pm EDT / 5pm PDT / 1am BST / 2am CEST