Bamboo implementation in circular economy model.

Our solution is to introduce sustainable raw material in packaging industry like bamboo instead of wood. The problem we are traying to solve is employment in rural areas and also deforestation, because billions of trees are cut for packaging industry every year, and people from country side goes to cities looking for opportunities. Our solution is to create bamboo harvesting cluster in rural areas to increase bamboo stock, jobs, and organized data around it to  track good practices, social-  environment performance and develop just in time supply chain for packaging industry like pallets. Also developing bamboo core entrepreneurial opportunities from rural areas to citizens, like construction materials, furniture, etc. 

We are traying to solve several problems from different points of view.

First the la lack of opportunities and employment in rural area, just in my country unemployment is up to 12%, that’s too much and is not an isolated problem from my country is the same or worst all around the world. The movement is that farmers and their families could have enough work demand for them and the people in their communities in bamboo plantation, harvesting process, transportation, etc.

Second the environment, packaging industry need thousands of billions of trees to produce the 5 billion pallets needed per year. It means lot of deforestation, erosion, habitat destruction and real damage in climate change. If we start implementing bamboo instead of wood , we can produce with no deforestation because bamboo is prune not clear cut, besides it grows extremely fast, produces more raw material per hectare, fixed six times more Co2 than a primary forest, and produces 30k water litter per hectare. That’s real climate active if we scale up the model.

FARMERS, by creating them new production and harvesting opportunities, introducing them in a advance supply chain, with data, training, impact, from a huge industry like packaging. Besides they can contribute to real development, decarbonization movement and increase their production  diversification.

EXPORTERS are the biggest packaging  consumers, and our pallets are 10% cheaper than wooden, so they could be more competitive or more cost efficent  with our pallets made of bamboo. Besides our pallets are 18% lighter, it means fuel reduction in logistics and transportation. Getting a green supply chain,  has great marketing opportunities.

ENVIRONMENT is the winner player of our business model. With one hectare of bamboo, we can produce 1.6 more pallets if we compare it with one hectare of forest. And bamboo in prune that’s why we don’t have deforestation and erosion neither in the whole process. About Co2 fixation bamboo fixed 60 Co2 tons hectare/year, and a primary forest only fixed 12 Co2 tons hectare/year. 

The solution is creat a bamboo cluster in rural areas to increase bamboo stock for different industries, like packaging, construction and / or food. Besides part of the training is to teach farmer high end  activities with bamboo, like construction, handicraft, furniture, food with  bamboo stems, forest protection, etc. The plan is to develop a platform with statistics, environmental-social data, raw material data, to connect with companies demand necessities in a  just in time scheme. But the idea is not just connect production with companies, also because of the environmental and social ratios creat Co2 stocks to trade them around the world.  

Right now we are in the developing process of the agro model and scaling up more farmers into the model. We are starting the production of pallets made out of bamboo instead of wood to creat demand, impact and awareness. Also starting the architecture of the platform according to the necessities of the business model and the circular economy we are searching for. We are creating social median campaigns, to reach more farmers and clients, and for the platform we have  a couple of month to decide between coding it or implementing blockchain for trackability, transparency and transaction.

For the bamboo pallet mill, we develop all technology inhouse to process it because no one in the world had done it before. Machines production line, process, sales channels and fitosanitary treatments are part of the milestones achievements but now we want to keep moving forward into the next milestone.

We are innovative for three may reasons:

First our company has 2 patents, one for new pallet designs with sustainable raw materials (bamboo) and the production line to process it. The second  patent is for corner post also a packaging component. And now we are developing the third patent that is a new design for pallets that are leased by month instead of sold. So having patent is a way to prove that we are first working in sustainable packaging using bamboo as raw material.

The second reason why we are innovative, is because we have developed  all the machinery and production line to process bamboo in high scale to create packaging solution, we are the first company making pallets out of bamboo in the world, that’s why we had faced so many challenges developing this technology and creating all the process from the scratch.

The third reason why we are innovative is because now we are working in creating a positive impact supply chain scheme. Creating alliances with farmers, universities, government and private sector. 

The core technology we are using is the one that we have develop in the machines and production line, is hardware. It is to process bamboo, if we compare it with wood machinery our technology uses 20% les energy consumption, 10% less fuel in harvesting process and up to 40% in waste material. Besides we had made a new  collaborative business model because of the way we are traying to work with farmers in our supply chain. We had using social networks for the next campaign to reach new farmers. And the next milestone is the platforms to create just in time supply chain and to create the Co2 stock bounds we are thinking about blockchain but that is the next milestone we are working on. 

We are facing the problems by changing all activities around he company.

First by the agro model with farmers that goes against deforestation, traditional harvesting fresh products and practices. In that why  we decrease unemployment in rural areas, and the negative externalities in the supply chain of packaging industry and by creating new business opportunities or entrepreneurial activities around bamboo.

Second big change is the way we produce in our mill, with new technology and machines to process bamboo, our practices go handed by efficiency to create positive  impact in climate action. Like less fuel and electricity in harvesting and transformation process. Besides packaging made out of bamboo in lighter than wooden it means less fuel in transportation. Besides many papers considers bamboo the raw material of the future because of the resistance, fast growing and low impact to the planet.

Third we are creating awareness by responsible production and consumption, its not been easy for us  to introduce to market our products made out of bamboo instead of wood or plastic. But market is more a like with more sustainable initiatives.  

We are in the pilot process, by now we are working with ten farmers, it means around 300 hectares. For that we have seven people working in the pallet mill that is running low scale because of the testing and calibration process, but we are working to go high scale in production of pallets made out of bamboo. And two clients are using our pallets, their feedback and interest is key for the scale up plan and development.

For the next year we will complete the 1000 hectare program, we have  around 65 farmers or families from rural areas interested in been part of the program. The need of people in the mill in a year is 35 workers. And we can produce up to 3000 pallets per week. I now those are no big numbers but to reach big number is just about scalability, now we are proving impact and numbers.

In fice year numbers are going to be aggressive because just in Ecuador there is more that 50 000 hectares of bamboo all in control of small and medium farmer  and the market for packaging is huge in south America that’s  why is going to be easy to prove big number in time, by scaling abroad. 

The next year is to scale up the whole business model in Costa Rica, and the next 5 years is scaling up in Ecuador and Guatemala. We can reach thousand of lives because the business model could be implemented in all tropical zone of the planet and every company need packaging solutions. When we have huge environment impact thousands of people all around the world gets involved, climate action is important because of the danger of the climate change and natural disasters. If we can reach at least 1% of the need of 5 billions of pallets every year impact still been enormous and important because every effort counts.  

We already had faced legal, technical and productive barriers. Now we are working in growing, financial access to support the pallets company and the farmers to scale up de model. Besides one of the barriers is to closed a business deal with multinational companies that consume packaging, we still working with small and medium exporter and logistics companies.

For next year we are thinking about franchise growing opportunity or external funding to scale up abroad.

We are in an accelerator program, also winning exposure with grants, like SOLVE, Expo2020 and any opportunity we can reach. Besides we are working with local entities for risk and venture capital. Also working with third parties like universities, government and private sector are increasing the probability to overcome barriers. 

Besides  supply chain model is focus in circular model so farmer can harvest with no chemicals, no deforestation, no erosion, with high Co2 fixation in bamboo plantation and high production of raw material by hectare, besides they develop new skills in good practices and training by using bamboo for other activities like food, construction, etc. With universities we are working in the good agricultural practices and the training for the farmers. With the government we are working in microfunding to the farmers with low interest rate, and handed with the decarbonization government program and the conservancy of the nature. And with private sector because they are going to buy the packaging, and raw material for other activities like construction. And  the future milestone is the Co2 stock bounds  to increase farmers income but we need the platform in the next year to start this initiative and also to increase effectiveness in the just in time supply chain platform.   

not part of other organization.

Full time: 7 persons.

Part time: 5 people.

Contractors: 3 people.

We are in pilot process but the team is efficient enough. 

The team is surround by experience and technical education. We have two MBAs from top ranked school in Costa Rica one is electromechanically engineer is project managers and designer of the production line, one economist with 6 year of experience in packaging industry and projects. 2 technicians in machine building inhouse developers, and 4 people working in operating machines and pallets assembly. Besides the agronomist are supply by EARTH university and agronomical schools.

We share the company values and vision,  we all have great soft and technical skill to overcomer the challenges of the past and the future ones.  

We are collaborating with Sustainability Labs, EARTH University, PROCOMER and one ONG named CRUSA. We are working with them because they are helping us to reach the company numbers and purpose. They are not stakeholder or share partner, but have same values similar milestones in terms of sustainability and social-economic development. 

We are developing farmer in Costa Rica and building a social and environmental supply chain, working with the entrepreneurial ecosystem in my country. Looking for the best agricultural and inclusion practices, we are increasing bamboo stock to create packaging solutions for exporter and logistic centers, selling our product business to business. Our revenue is by selling pallets made out of bamboo and other packaging solutions. Value proposition goes by creating more sustainable products in terms of environment, employment and efficiencies. We had work in innovation the last two years to take to reality that was a business idea. Besides our clients can purchase a cheaper product with extra value, and our supplier can be more profitable.

I had worked with the profits of the company because it used to sell wooden pallets for 4 year, them cash necessity increase and we tried with grants and we are working with those grants. Thanks to the help and grants we are finishing the pilot mill and getting ready to going to market. The next step is to generate revenue we are no t positive by now but we most grow trough that way , but if we can exponential growth  we most look for funds raising. 

We are applying to solve because of opportunity and credibility. Opportunity because of exposure, early stage business need support in letting known the market that new solutions are around and this competition increase possibilities on market acceptance for product acquisition.  If we talk about credibility if because when a business idea gets selected huge opportunities came up, it could be, funding, post and press publications, new product ideas and validation. For us solve is extremely important because technology is the milestone, so probably we can get in touch with developers, new horizons by using latest advance in blockchain, or big data that are going to add value to our next milestone.  Also having the opportunity to participate in the summit is important for the business model, because that can of credibility is the key to open market in other countries or to find better access to markets that are committed or that are partner to the summit. 

Logistics partner like UPS, DHL, or Walmart are high user or final clients of our products. 

Circular economy is our strategy and were our product get the real value. Not just for the opportunity for rural residents is also for the product life cycle. Wooden pallet most of the times are used only for two month and them they turn into waste. So we are growing trees to create low value and low price products with externalities. Besides innovation in packaging are by using plastic, chemical resins not real renewable raw materials like bamboo. If we get the prize we will used to develop new products for packaging industry, because we are having insights from our clients that are real opportunities for a new product line, like boxes for fresh products, paper, bags, construction solutions  and even for pharmacy and beauty product. Innovation is not cheap and fast, that’s why new resources will keep us in the innovation line with new products, patents, new team members, and also to implement the next milestone technology for transability, certification and efficiency in the supply chain model.

Also we will use the prize to create more impact in the communities and to increase awareness inside and outside of our organization in terms of sustainability, opportunity and economic development in entrepreneurial activities that take care of people and resources.