INDUSTRY NEWS: From Boomerang Labs
BRAD by Banish, a green startup founded by 2023 Young Australian of the Year, Lottie Dalziel, along with 12 other NSW late-stage circular economy startups, is one of the companies selected by Boomerang Labs’ six-month accelerator program.
Funded by the NSW Environment Protection Authority and Ernst and Young, the accelerator will help participating startups scale and commercialise their business through workshops, mentoring, coaching, and networking starting this November.
Boomerang Labs general manager Caitlyn Touzell said: “We wanted to reach out to different types of businesses and take a sector-agnostic approach because getting to a truly circular economy requires innovation and collaboration across all scales and supply chains.”
NSW EPA associate executive director of programs and innovation, Arminda Ryan, said, “We know that transitioning to a circular economy and achieving our waste reduction goals will require new and innovative approaches from industry as well as governments.”
“It’s great to see NSW business bringing new ideas to the table and exploring sustainable solutions for complex waste and recycling issues across various sectors.”
While this round was only available to businesses in NSW, Boomerang Labs hopes to again offer its nationwide program and explore other state and territory specific programs in the future.
The 2023-24 cohort of startups includes:
BRAD by Banish: Banish, founded by 2023 Young Australian of the Year, Lottie Dalziel, aims to help Australians reduce their waste with the right products and even better information. All products stocked on Banish must adhere to a strict set of guidelines, such as being palm oil-free, paraben-free, responsibly made, and not tested on animals, and not including any of the ingredients listed on the Banish “sin bin”. BRAD, the Banish Recycling and Disposal program, helps Australians divert hard-to-recycle household items from landfills and is one of Australia’s most inclusive specialty programs.
Bearhug Pallet Wraps: A reusable pallet wrap can be used over 1000 times, eliminating 350 kilograms of single-use plastic or 90 per cent of pallet wrap expense. By coupling them with the same share and reuse model used for pallets, Bearhug allows reusable wraps to move freely through supply chains, aiming to make the source of 3 per cent of the world’s plastic waste a thing of the past.
CandleXchange: The mission of CandleXchange, founded in the Northern Beaches, is to make the luxury of home fragrances more affordable, zero landfill and accessible for everyone. This includes reusing glass containers, soy wax instead of paraffin, 100 per cent reused, recycled or compostable packaging materials and carbon-neutral delivery. The business plans to prevent 1 million containers and 100 tonnes of packaging waste from entering landfills by 2030.
Charopy: When education and signage do not deliver the required level of compliance in out of home recycling bins, the technology provides a locked flap that only opens for eligible items, combined with real-time online reporting. Charopy is the ideal tool for sustainability managers and facilities managers in shopping centres, hospitals, stadiums, corporate offices, and more.
Delivery Hound: Delivery Hound is replacing single-use plastic dog food packaging, which can’t be recycled. Even those neat cardboard boxes have a single-use plastic bag inside. With Delivery Hound, customers only use two recyclable tubs: the one they have and the one that staff are cleaning, refilling, and replacing for the customer.
Devolver Pty Ltd: Devolver’s two apps work together to make borrowing and tracking reusable containers easy and efficient. Retailers simply use their app to scan the customer’s unique QR code and then scan the reusable container’s QR code. This eliminates the need for disposable packaging and helps reduce waste.
nviro1: 600 billion PET drink bottles are produced every year, with caps that must be separated because they are made of different mixed plastics. nviro1 has the first 100 per cent PET bottle with a tethered, resealable cap, reducing the risk of litter and costly sorting for recyclers.
RCYCL: RCYCL offers a hassle-free solution for direct to consumer clothing recycling. Consumers drop off clothing that is unfit for donation or reuse, and RCYCL works with industry experts who specialise in sorting and processing different types of fibres to ensure that nothing goes to waste.
Resolarcycle: Resolarcycle takes older but still usable solar panels (such as if someone is upgrading, for example) and redistributes them to areas in Asia and Africa where access to electricity is not readily available. The company also recycles non-usable solar panels.
Reynard Wood: Reynard Wood produces building products made from iron ore tailings waste from Australia’s largest export sales of iron ore that have been building significant waste problems offshore. The result is an industrialised safe-waste composite based, with lower energy used to produce and mass distribute. A non-intruding solution to the Australian environment, it can replace traditional hardwood and softwood timber used for consumer products in their current outdoor application.
Superyard: As a sustainable construction marketplace, Superyard enables construction businesses to find and sell unused construction materials and equipment. Membership is free, and the company charges no commission or listing fees.
Utilitarian: Utilitarian.World is a global community of consumers, brands, and circular economy platforms dedicated to creating a green, clean, and circular future. It provides consumers a single digital wallet that enables tailored, rewards-orientated sustainability actions with various incentives.
Yaali Collective: Yaali Collective is an Indigenous-owned company that provides goods and services that are educational (teaching Aboriginal culture), easy to use (providing simple strategies), and interactive (engaging). As the business grows, the company will focus on becoming more sustainable in manufacturing and production of its resources using more sustainable materials and reducing waste, leading cultural revitalisation through on-country programs and experience with a Biodiversity Conservation Agreement, protecting flora and fauna, and growing service offering in Flora and Fauna protection and transfer the knowledge and opportunities to the next generation of proud Aboriginal leaders.