{"id":281595,"date":"2020-10-08T17:18:28","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T20:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=281595"},"modified":"2020-10-08T17:50:56","modified_gmt":"2020-10-08T20:50:56","slug":"a-startups-cassava-packaging-turns-into-fertilizer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/a-startups-cassava-packaging-turns-into-fertilizer\/","title":{"rendered":"A startup\u2019s cassava packaging turns into fertilizer"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Aipim<\/em>, mandioca<\/em> or macaxeira<\/em>. The common name may vary, but the raw material for this sustainable Brazilian-made packaging is one and the same: the starch obtained by processing the root of cassava. J\u00e1 Fui Mandioca<\/a> (I Was Once Cassava) is the brand that made this material into a biodegradable alternative to products like plastic and Styrofoam. When laid onto earth, the cassava packaging turns into fertilizer in up to 90 days. This technology led the two-year-old Brazilian startup to get accelerated, and it grew to add the likes of Google and Facebook to its client roster.<\/p>\n

More than just an alternative to other materials, the brand strives for sustainability in all its processes. \u201cWe work with the circular economy, which is the concept of the earth, of nature. That\u2019s the cycle that we worked to replicate. The cassava turns to packaging, which goes back to the earth and then turns into cassava back again. Our entire production is clean, as is the disposal solution. We believe in creating a process that will have a positive impact. During manufacturing, we use way less water, about 75 times less than plastic,\u201d founder Stelvio Mazza told ANBA over the phone.<\/p>\n

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The packaging turns into organic compost in 90 days when out in the weather<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He said the technology had been 16 years in the making, and largescale manufacturing was one of the challenges. \u201cWhen you talk about coming up with a new approach to plastic, people have no idea how long of a way it is from creating it in the lab and then going largescale. That\u2019s why I say that all our staff, all of us are building and creating this technology each day.<\/p>\n

The biopackaging is 100% eco-friendly and it solves the problem of materials that are extremely short-lived before going in the trash. \u201cWe aren\u2019t a packaging company so much as a tech one. Some of the applications of plastic didn\u2019t make any sense to us. The little spoon you stir coffee with will get 2 seconds of use and then take hundreds of years to degrade into the environment,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s product line includes pots, plates, to-go packages, and ice cream cups as the latest addition. Output is doubling each year, and although the pandemic has taken a toll, revenue is expected to go up in 2020. In order to achieve that, the startup had to seek out new clients. \u201cMuch of our client base are events or offices, like those of Facebook and Uber, which are currently non-existent, since the staff are working from home. These markets have been severely punished. We had already been making the shift towards delivery and natural food restaurants, we just had to do it quicker to adapt to the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Stelvio Mazza stepped away from a career in multinationals to start J\u00e1 Fui Mandioca<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mazza believes many more packaging possibilities can be explored as the brand grows. \u201cWe have managed to do almost everything that Styrofoam can do. We are currently focused on food, because we\u2019re still a startup, but I think the pandemic can make things happen even quicker. There\u2019s no plan B; this is the planet we have to live in. The more informed and aware consumers are, the better,\u201d said Mazza, adding that J\u00e1 Fui Mandioca also caters to small businesses such as restaurants and ice cream parlors.<\/p>\n

The brand has plans to export over the long haul. \u201cThere\u2019s a demand everywhere in the world. We aren\u2019t exporting yet because we are focusing on Brazil, which is a big market, but we\u2019re considering exporting. We don\u2019t begin looking into exports until interested parties come up looking to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Press Release<\/div>\n
Press Release<\/div>\n
Press Release<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brazil\u2019s J\u00e1 Fui Mandioca has enabled mass production of an alternative to the usual plastic and Styrofoam packaging. It makes to-go packages and even ice-cream cups using the starch-rich cassava.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2324,"featured_media":281573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[28125,43834],"class_list":{"0":"post-281595","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-amido-en","9":"tag-mandioca-en"},"wps_subtitle":"Brazil\u2019s J\u00e1 Fui Mandioca has enabled mass production of an alternative to the usual plastic and Styrofoam packaging. It makes to-go packages and even ice-cream cups using the starch-rich cassava. ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}