We throw away a lot. Food, packaging, resources all gone in seconds, dumped in bins, carted off to landfills. And for a long time, business played along. Take, make, dispose. But not anymore.
Today’s smartest founders are building businesses that tackle waste head-on.
They’re building businesses that treat rubbish like a resource, challenge throwaway culture, and turn sustainability into something that’s actually desirable. And they’re scaling fast.
Deepak Ravindran, co-founder of Oddbox, started with a simple question: why does so much perfectly good food never even make it to supermarket shelves?
Every year, the UK throws away around 10.7 million tonnes of food. That’s not just waste. It’s wasted land, water, energy, and potential.
So Deepak and his partner Emilie Vanpoperinghe decided to intervene at the source. Oddbox rescues “wonky” and surplus produce directly from farms and delivers it to homes across the UK in subscription boxes. It’s seasonal, fresh, and radically reduces food waste with over 50,000 tonnes saved so far. Customers get good food, farmers get paid fairly, and the planet breathes a little easier. That’s what a win-win looks like.
Tessa Clarke, co-founder of Olio, is tackling food waste from a different angle and that’s coming from your fridge.