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The Swiss StartCup Challenge at the Swiss Impact Forum of B Lab Switzerland

SwissImpact4

On September 15th in Bern, at the opening of the Swiss Impact Forum, Joséphine Herzig, co-Director Engagement Programs of B Lab Switzerland, announced the names of the 9 candidates selected by the jury of the Swiss StartCup Challenge.

There were 271 start-ups, SMEs and students who submitted their circular projects.
Now, there are just 9 finalists who have been selected by the jury of the circular innovation competition launched by Nespresso and B Lab Switzerland. 

The finalists of the 2022 edition: 
Category Start-ups: KOLI / ARBOLOOM / TERRA PRETA
Category SMEs: PROXIPEL / REDELEC TECHNOLOGIE / COMPAIR
Category Students: BINKABLE / ZIPBACK / TRASHMANSHIP

It's at the heart of the Swiss Impact Forum, an inspiring event with more than 400 individuals committed to building a more positive and sustainable world, that we had the pleasure to welcome the candidates of the Swiss StartCup Challenge.
This day rich in exchanges was an opportunity to meet and share with other certified B Corp™ companies, to apprehend the Swiss momentum of this virtuous ecosystem that already gathers nearly 600 companies on our territory and to revisit the major issues related to the climate crisis and biodiversity, through the responsibility of our companies.

A big congratulations and thank you to the team at B Lab Switzerland, and especially Jonathan Normand, for organising this inspiring and virtuous day.

And congratulations to the 9 finalists of the Swiss StartCup Challenge, which you can now vote for
as of September 29th on our website, for a chance to win a year's supply of coffee and a Nespresso machine*.

See you soon
The StartCup Team

 

CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION REWARD TO VOTE SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE 2022

CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

REWARD TO VOTE

SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE 2022

A. Organisation, Participation & Prizes

1.    “Swiss StartCup Challenge 2022” is a call for projects linked to circularity, organised by Nestlé Nespresso SA (hereinafter Nespresso) and B-Lab Switzerland and hosted on the website www.nespresso.com/startcup (hereinafter the “Website”). 

2.    The finalists of the “Swiss StartCup Challenge 2022” will be subject to a public vote (hereinafter “Vote”) to choose the winners. The Vote will take place from 29 September to 26 October 2022.
3.    In order to reward public participation in the Vote, Nespresso is organising a competition between 29 September 2022 and 26 October 2022 (hereinafter “Competition”).
4.    The Competition is open to any individual over the age of 18 at the time of their participation. Participants must be resident in Switzerland or Liechtenstein.
5.    To take part in the competition, the participant must access the page www.nespresso.com/startcup/vote, fill in all the fields of the form necessary for their registration and accept the conditions of participation in the Competition in their entirety and without reservation. Then, the participant must vote for one of the finalists of the “Swiss StartCup Challenge 2022”. The participant can participate in the competition only once.
6.    In order to avoid entries that do not comply with these conditions of participation, Nespresso may have to limit entry to the competition by technical means. In this instance, Nespresso cannot be held responsible in the event that it is impossible to participate.
7.    The participant accepts that, within the scope of this competition, their personal data will be collected and processed by Nespresso and/or specially mandated partner companies in compliance with Swiss data protection law for the purposes of the Competition.
8.    At the end of the voting period, on 26 October 2022, a draw will be made among the participants in the Vote, in order to choose the winner of the Competition. 
9.    The winner of the Competition will be contacted by email at the email address provided to Nespresso upon registration. 
10.    The winner of the Competition will receive a prize consisting of a voucher worth CHF 500 for the purchase of Nespresso products + a Vertuo Next machine worth CHF 149-. In order to receive the voucher, a Nespresso member account must be created. Prizes cannot be converted to cash. Nespresso may at any time decide to replace the prizes with equivalents.
11.    Nespresso shall not be held responsible in the event that prizes are not awarded for reasons beyond its control (incomplete or incorrect contact details of winners, losses, postal strikes, etc.). In addition, if the winner does not create their Nespresso member account within 6 months of receiving notification of their win, they will permanently lose the right to win.

B. General provisions

12.    Nespresso's decisions in relation to the Competition will be final and binding. In the event of circumstances beyond its reasonable control and only when the circumstances are unavoidable, Nespresso reserves the right to cancel or change the Competition or these terms and conditions at any time, but Nespresso will endeavour to minimise the impact on the Participants in order to avoid any disappointment. 
13.    No compensation will be due to the participant in the event of cancellation or change of the Competition or the event itself. 
14.    These Rules are published in English, French, German and Italian. In the event of contradictions or differences of interpretation between the English, German, Italian and French versions, the French version will prevail.
15.    If a participant cheats, or if a virus, bug, catastrophic event or any other unforeseen or unexpected event that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled (also known as Force Majeure) affects the impartiality and/or integrity of this Competition, Nespresso reserves the right to cancel, change or suspend this Competition. This right is reserved if the event is due to human or technical error. If no solution can be found to restore the integrity of the Competition, we reserve the right to select winners from all eligible entries received prior to the cancellation, change or suspension of the Competition. Nespresso reserves the right to proceed, to the extent deemed appropriate and in accordance with the laws in force, with limiting and restricting any action that seeks to circumvent the applicable system. Any fraud or attempted fraud must be duly reported in accordance with the law.
16.    Nespresso shall not be held responsible for any technical malfunction of hardware or software, interruption of Internet connection, failed, erroneous, inaccurate, incomplete, illegible, damaged, lost, delayed, incorrectly addressed or intercepted registration of the participant, or any other participant's registration which for any reason has not been received by Nespresso, electronic communications of any other nature which have been delayed, or any other technical issues relating to the participant's entry and downloading of videos as part of this initiative. Similarly, Nespresso does not give any guarantee to the Participant as to the proper functioning of the Site and the programmes constituting the Site.
17.    These Rules are governed by Swiss law and any dispute that cannot be resolved amicably beforehand will be submitted exclusively to the courts of the Canton of Vaud, in Switzerland.
18.    To ensure the impartiality and integrity of the Competition to all participants, Nespresso will not initiate discussions regarding the conduct of this Competition via social networks, but will respond to the participant.

Any queries about the Competition must be addressed to startcup.ch@nespresso.com.
 

Sustainability and innovation with a circular economy: Nespresso + Caran d'Ache x Stefan Kunz, a colourful Swiss collaboration

stefan kunz

Nespresso has always taken its corporate responsibility very seriously and has invested heavily over the past 30 years in optimizing the sustainable aspects of processes throughout its value chain. Early on, the Swiss brand began to look for solutions to reintegrate the components of its capsules into the raw material circuit and developed a process for separating aluminum from coffee grounds that is unique in the world. In order to raise awareness among consumers about the recycling of aluminium capsules, Nespresso Switzerland launched the Second Life project six years ago to demonstrate that it is possible to produce new products from used Nespresso capsules.

This year, Nespresso Switzerland is combining the theme of the circular economy with that of art and putting coffee in the spotlight; because in addition to the aluminum, the coffee from used Nespresso capsules is also recycled and repurposed. This year's Second Life object is therefore a notebook whose interior pages are made from recycled coffee residues. For the design of this notebook, Nespresso called upon Stefan Kunz, the internationally renowned lettering and typography artist from Zurich. The notebook also comes with a Caran d'Ache graphite pencil whose lead is made from recycled coffee grounds.

Second Life - Stefan Kunz (nespresso.com)

STARTCUP FINALISTS

STARTCUP JURY

STARTCUP FINALISTS

Discover the circular projects of the 9 finalists still in the running. Following a selection process led by our internal committee and our StartCup jury, 3 students, 3 start-ups and 3 SMEs were selected.

Now it's your turn to pick the winner for each category!

STARTUPS

photo-of-finalist
ARBOLOOM

                 
terra-preta-photo
TERRA PRETA

       
koli-photo
KOLI

     

       

VOTE

SMEs

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REDELEC

        
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PROXIPEL

           
photo-of-person
COMPPAIR

          

    

VOTE

STUDENTS

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BINKABLE

         
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TRASHMANSHIP

       
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ZIPBACK

      

     

VOTE

STARTCUP NEWS

Join the movement and follow us on linkedin

 

BECAUSE IT ALL STARTS AROUND A COFFEE

FINALIST PAGE (individual) - VIRGINIE BAUMAN

 

 

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Virginie Bauman

Founder of KOLI

SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE FINALIST

KOLI proposes a reusable packaging solution for Swiss e-commerce.

With KOLI, packaging is not thrown away, but is put to use in a constant cycle between the e-commerce company, the end consumer, and us. So, there's no waste, and it's ready for another journey. 

 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF YOUR CIRCULAR PROJECT? 

Firstly, to counter single-use packaging, with a focus on reuse and repair. 

Secondly, to reduce the amount of waste, because nowadays, in Switzerland, we use and throw away 15 million packages for e-commerce every month. 

This waste has a carbon footprint, so the third goal is to reduce this carbon footprint, which is 7'500 tonnes of CO2 every month. This is the equivalent of 3'000 round trips between Geneva and New York by plane. 

And the icing on the cake is that we're already thinking about end of life, because KOLI packaging is made of recycled PET. This is a material that can be reprocessed and reintroduced into a new sector when the packaging can no longer be used.

 

WHY IS KOLI PARTICIPATING IN THE SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE?

KOLI is participating in the Swiss StartCup challenge to test our concept against expert opinion, to receive advice, to gain visibility, and also, we hope, to finance part of the project, especially the production phase for the launch.

Online shopping also contributes to the climate emergency, so choosing the KOLI project contributes to reducing the impact of e-commerce on our planet.

Vote for KOLI in the Swiss StartCup challenge!

VOTE FOR THIS PROJECT

STARTCUP NEWS

BECAUSE IT ALL STARTS AROUND A COFFEE

FINALIST PAGE (individual) - THOMAS KÄSLIN

 

 

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Thomas Käslin

Co Founder of Terra Preta

SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE FINALIST 

TERRA PRETA enables farmers in Latin America to produce their own soil improver from agricultural waste and capture CO2 through training and by providing technology.
We also help them secure funding by selling carbon credits to international companies.

 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF YOUR CIRCULAR PROJECT? 

Farmers benefit from higher total income by using less fertilizer and making improvements when it comes to soil and plant health.

On a global level, this means removing CO2 and storing it in the soil.

 

WHY IS TERRA PRETA PARTICIPATING IN THE SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE? 

We're taking part in in the Swiss StartCup Challenge in order to introduce our project to a large audience, and also  to work with Nespresso as a major player in Latin America. They can connect us with small producers and if we win the competition, the funds will help us to install our technology at 300 small farms, thus, removing a lot of CO2 from the atmosphere.

So, to help farmers in Latin America and improve your  social and environmental impact, vote for Terra Preta in the Swiss StartCup Challenge!

VOTE FOR THIS PROJECT

STARTCUP NEWS

BECAUSE IT ALL STARTS AROUND A COFFEE

FINALIST PAGE (individual) - NINA D'ELIA

 

 

<- Finalistes

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Nina D'Elia

Founder of TRASHMANSHIP

SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE FINALIST

TRASHMANSHIP designs a circular line of furniture and home accessories carefully crafted with the re-use of local construction and demolition waste.

 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF YOUR CIRCULAR PROJECT?

The three main benefits of TRASHMANSHIP is that we don't use any raw materials :
we revalorise materials that were already in circulation. All of our products are recycled and recyclable. And the sourcing, production and distribution remains locally, so everything within Switzerland.

 

WHY IS TRASHMANSHIP PARTICIPATING IN THE SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE?

I'm participating in the Swiss StartCup Challenge because I wanted to confront my project to the market and to hear the public opinion. TRASHMANSHIP would benefit a lot from the visibility, from the funding.

We really want to continue to experiment with this project and maybe you have a little bit of trash that we could use!

By voting for TRASHMANSHIP you're supporting a 100% circular business, so vote for TRASHMANSHIP in the Swiss StartCup Challenge!

VOTE FOR THIS PROJECT

STARTCUP NEWS

BECAUSE IT ALL STARTS AROUND A COFFEE

FINALIST PAGE (individual) - MEHDI BENZEKRI & ANTOINE MUNIE

 

 

<- Finalistes

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Mehdi Benzekri & Antoine MunieR

Co-founder of BINKABLE

SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE FINALIST

BINKABLE is a compost bin consisting of two compartments, neutralising odours and insects, and integrating a reward system for users.

 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF YOUR CIRCULAR PROJECT? 

The benefits of the BINKABLE solution are:
firstly, to avoid the inconvenience of composting, such as bad odours and insects, and secondly, to keep users motivated by rewarding them.

We're innovating the process by offering our users a reward system in the form of ‘tokens’ that they can use at our eco-friendly partners.

 

WHY IS BINKABLE PARTICIPATING IN THE SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE?

We decided to participate in the Swiss StartCup Challenge to advance our BINKABLE project, which is an environmentally-responsible project, and to dive into the fascinating world of startups and companies.

We hope that this challenge will give us visibility and media coverage, enable us to meet participants in the circular economy, and – why not – to gain financial support.

If you want to support a wonderful, environmentally-responsible project that will at long last motivate people to recycle their compost, vote for BINKABLE in the Swiss StartCup Challenge!

VOTE FOR THIS PROJECT

STARTCUP NEWS

BECAUSE IT ALL STARTS AROUND A COFFEE

FINALIST PAGE (individual) - JULIE GAUDIN & JEAN-SÉBASTIEN RAHM

 

 

<- Finalistes

photo-of-finalists

 

Julie Gaudin,
Jean-Sébastien Rahm,
Sabrina Servant &
Mégane Schafhirt

Founders of ZIPBACK

SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE FINALIST 

Our project is called ZIPBACK – ‘the heroes of packaging’.

ZIPBACK offers recycled and reusable packaging for online sales with a circular lifecycle facilitated by the Post Office. 

 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF YOUR CIRCULAR PROJECT? 

Our pouches are made from recycled cement bags. The cement bags are processed with the help of a Swiss organisation, IWA Kep, which seeks to provide stable employment for women in Cambodia.

With this reusable pouch, we're taking action on waste management by offering circularity to a major industry: online sales.

 

WHY IS ZIPBACK PARTICIPATING IN THE SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE?

We're participating in the Swiss Startcup Challenge to help us reach a milestone for our pilot project: gaining visibility and credibility in the market.

With this challenge, we want you to help us raise awareness and change attitudes. We want to provide a packaging solution to an industry that isn't known for circularity. 

We're solving a global problem in a growing market dominated by plastic, so vote for ZIPBACK in the Swiss StartCup Challenge!

VOTE FOR THIS PROJECT

STARTCUP NEWS

BECAUSE IT ALL STARTS AROUND A COFFEE

FINALIST PAGE (individual) - DAVID CRETTENAND

 

 

<- Finalistes

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David Crettenand

Director and founder of REDELEC TECHNOLOGIE

SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE FINALIST

REDELEC developed an electrochemical reactor - a machine that finds metals in waste, extracts them and put them back to use in the production line. 

 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF YOUR CIRCULAR PROJECT? 

Our solution is a very good example of a circular economy.
It allows for the management of waste, which normally represents a cost for the production line.
This avoids the need to extract and import metals, which are exhaustible resources. 

 

WHY IS REDELEC TECHNOLOGIE PARTICIPATING IN THE SWISS STARTCUP CHALLENGE?

REDELEC is participating in the Swiss StartCup Challenge, because the circular economy is truly at the core of our values and activities. And, for us, it was very important to be part of the ecosystem that will be the focus of this competition.

This challenge will help us to publicise our skills and our operations, so that every person who deals with waste products that contain metal asks themselves the question: is it possible to re-purpose this metal using our technology?

If we manage to develop this technology together and raise awareness, so that it develops on a global scale, it will have a significant positive impact on the environment.  

So go ahead and vote for REDELEC TECHNOLOGIE in the Swiss StartCup Challenge!

VOTE FOR THIS PROJECT

STARTCUP NEWS

BECAUSE IT ALL STARTS AROUND A COFFEE

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