Member - travel4thoughts

What is at stake? 1- The achievement of SDG14 (life under water) with a tangible contribution to reduce plastic waste, and other SDGs implementation (poverty, social inclusion, sustainable communities, inequalities, innovation) strictly related. 2- Changing consumers’ behaviours by creating awareness among youth of alternative products to plastic. What are the objectives? A) Replace as many single-use plastic straws as possible by introducing innovative solutions and biodegradable materials. B) Create a local, regional and national movement against plastic straws in partnership with key players. 3- Pilot a social inclusive business model involving local communities in the Indian ocean, mobilizing stakeholders in the action against plastic pollution. This inclusive business model could be scalable and adapted to other local contexts. 4- Build an innovative product portfolio to replace plastic to enforce other environmental friendly solutions and alternative productions/consumptions patterns. Currently the activities focus on the research for sponsors, partners with a CSR profile, in both the public and private sector. The Start up is supported by UNCTAD and incubated by Softweb in Switzerland. The goal is to build awareness about plastic pollution, using the most obvious symbol of our wasteful ‘throwaway’ consumer culture – the plastic straw (as a starting point). Social media is one of the tools to achieve this objective (www.instagram.com/travel4thoughts). Key objective is to drive and encourage a shift in mindset, which will result in a change of consumption's patterns. Contract with an ethical supplier source of bamboo straw to offer the product in Switzerland is in place. Process optimisation and assessment of product’s quality/performance has been completed successfully. Aim is to introduce the product to local events, and festivals at high visibility, shops and retailers to deliver a strong message against single use plastic and reach a wider audience. In parallel, work is done on the development of the manufacturing plant with a NGO in an island of the Indian Ocean, that will create new jobs and economic growth in the local community ((SDG1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) amongst a vulnerable category of people (disables). The product is ready for the Swiss retail market.