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A Berlin start-up wants to create a new standard for food packaging. A reusable system is to be established with its own returnable jars. The two founders developed their idea at their previous employer, Oetker.
After a two-year pilot phase, the Berlin start-up mehrwelt is launching a Germany-wide deposit system for foods such as pasta, snacks and muesli in May.
The young company has designed its own deposit jars in two sizes, with the aim of establishing a reusable system in the food sector. In the first step, mehrwelt is offering its own range of 22 products in organic quality. In the second step, the reusable system will be opened up so that external manufacturers can also use the system and package their products sustainably in the simple mehrwelt returnable jar.
System was tested for two years
In a test phase lasting almost two years, the system was evaluated and optimised with a number of pilot retailers. The sales figures showed that end consumers are convinced by the idea and also consider the deposit fee of one euro per jar to be reasonable, according to the founders
With mehrwelt, we see an opportunity to make the deposit system a strong force in the food sector too. We want to inspire manufacturers to switch to the deposit system with mehrwelt jars and thus fight against packaging waste together.
The mehrwelt jars are registered with all common deposit machine manufacturers and can therefore be easily integrated into the processes familiar from deposit bags. The system is designed from the outset so that many different manufacturers can pack their products in it. The design of the jars is kept very simple to make them compatible with all products - whether pasta, muesli or snack products.
According to its own information, mehrwelt is currently in concrete dialogue with well-known manufacturers and hopes that consumers will soon be able to access many more products in the mehrwelt deposit jar.
Oetker Group is first investor
The founders, Juliane Wagner & Dominik Welslau, met while working together for Oetker Digital, where they developed the idea for a new deposit system outside of beverages and dairy products. They have since spun off the start-up and received their first investment from the Oetker Group. The aim of the start-up is to make food in multi-world deposit jars the new standard in every supermarket in order to make shopping without packaging waste accessible to as many consumers as possible.
Source: moreworld
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