The Ones To Watch: The Waste Lab is determined to transform sand into farmable soil, empowering businesses and communities toward a regenerative future
Dubai, UAE (November 2022) Coffee Planet is working with women-led start-up, The Waste Lab, to create a circular economy by promoting zero waste solutions that are sustainable and transparent. Both homegrown businesses, Coffee Planet and The Waste Lab began as small enterprises making a splash and coming together to battle a global problem of Green House Gases emitted from disposing food and organic waste in landfills.
Revolutionising a region that has a lack of food recycling options, The Waste Lab aims to create an opportunity for every food scrap to become a solution rather than a burden on our society and environment by mimicking nature through its nature-based composting solutions. A further objective is to promote the segregation and repurposing of food waste in the UAE, where 3.37 million tonnes of food go to landfill every year and that interestingly imports 80% of its compost. Desert soil isn’t dead; it merely lacks organic matter, which can be added to the soil from compost. Cue Coffee Planet, shifting this start-up into the fast stream. For every 100 grams of coffee beans produced, 91 grams of solid coffee waste and wastewater is formed.
The repurposing process begins with Coffee Planet collecting discarded coffee grounds, which are then transported to The Waste Lab’s Control Station. The grounds are then weighed, checked for possible contamination, and taken to the composting station to create nutritive by-products that benefit the local soil, local farms and local jobs. Collections are purposefully routed to minimise carbon footprint and keep emissions low. This program not only benefits the environment but also contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals and pledges of the UAE.
The Waste Lab and Coffee Planet play a significant role in changing the coffee industry by creating a blueprint for other businesses to scale up steps towards a circular economy and by supporting long-term sustainability goals by establishing a community that practices proper organic waste sorting at the source and promotes circularity throughout the companies’ value chain.