Week 6 Pitch

This is the written pitch that we presented..

Sam:

Slide 1: Hey guys! Tia, Gen and I are investigating waste in the florist industry. From our initial research we have found that many florists do not separate their green waste from their general rubbish, and that on average, Slide 2: they each produce 312 litres of green waste per week. We recognised that this issue was especially prevalent with inner city florists and have developed a composting service to address this. Introducing, offcut. Slide 3:

Gen:

Offcut is a service-based initiative that makes composting for florists in the city, easy. We propose to offer a monthly subscription based service whereby bins are provided to the florists for their green waste to be disposed in. We are in the process of considering different options for the structure of our service, and are currently looking at offering set prices for a small bin, or a large bin, and the option for these to be collected and replaced weekly or fortnightly.

Our start-up plan would be to partner with an existing operation to handle the actual composting of the green waste we collect, however, our long-term intention is to develop our own system of composting, and create a profitable product from this. We are exploring the possibilities of selling the compost in small packages designed for students/apartment dwellers, or turning our green waste into paper/cardboard and making it into wraps, cards, or other paper-based options to sell back to the florists.

Slide 4: From the florists we’ve spoken to, 13 were eager to support our idea, and the average amount they would be willing to pay for the service would be around $50 per month. Slide 5: Given that we are in the process of investigating the running costs and income potential of our business, we are assessing whether this figure is fair, reasonable and sustainable.

Our research has shown that whilst there are some great initiatives that address food waste, there has been little to no consideration of florists as a huge and unnecessary contributor to our landfill. Slide 6: We have used these alternative examples to help form our idea, and one of the great full-service food waste examples was Kaicycle.

Kai-cycle collect and compost food waste. They collect the scraps (on a bicycle) once a week and take it back to an urban farm where they compost it to fertilize the fruit and vegetables grown there. They charge a sign-up fee and then a monthly fee for providing their bin service. We are using this example to help establish the foundations of our similar service platform.

Tia:

Slide 7: Our service also encompasses an educational aspect as many florists believe their waste to compost in landfill anyway; however, this is a misconception as there is no air in landfill for the composting process to occur with waste instead rotting. Leachate is a natural occurrence when waste comes in contact with water. It can be very harmful and the rotting organic waste mixes with this. Alongside this, the nutrients from the organic waste never reach the soil due to the plastic lining of the landfill. This method of disposal for organic waste contributes to the larger issue of harmful methane gas which is given off by landfill.

Sam:

Slide 8: Our strategies for promoting Offcut will include a campaign to educate florists of the actual impact of their green waste when it goes to the landfill, as we believe this will be an important factor in encouraging the use of our service. We also want to develop a reward for participating florists that is visible and recognisable to both the public and other florists, that displays that they are a part of our initiative, and are addressing their environmental impact. This will be a key aspect of our strategy as we are aware that these visible displays are a significant contributor to behavioural change. Think of it as similar to the heart foundation tick, or Fair Trade badges.

We believe that Offcut is addressing an important environmental issue, and has found a nice gap within which it can make a difference.