Dirk van den Broek is a mid-tier Dutch supermarket chain, with 132 stores and over 2 million customers a week. Dirk is one of the 10 members of the Superunie procurement collective, which has a combined market share of over 25% of the Dutch market.
Dirk is known for striving to make responsible food affordable and accessible to all, with respect for people, animals and the environment.
Single-use plastics, especially in packaging and bags, cause an enormous amount of waste and high CO2 emissions worldwide, with negative consequences for people, animals and the environment. Dirk is therefore challenging innovators (from startup to grown-up) from around the world to pitch sustainable solutions that radically reduce the use of fossil-based plastic packaging in the fresh category.
Does your company have a solution and are you looking for a launching customer? We would love to get in touch with you and explore partnership opportunities!
Background of the challenge
Single-use plastic is primarily made from fossil fuels and is meant to be disposed of right after use. It is most commonly used for packaging and bags. Our reliance on these plastics means we are accumulating waste at a staggering rate. We produce 300 million tons of plastic each year worldwide, half of which is for single-use items. That's nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population. In addition to the growing problem of (micro)plastic waste, its production causes huge emissions of CO2. This drastic negative impact on animal, human and planet health has recently led to new legislation and actions to reduce or ban the use of single-use plastics.
Supermarkets are taking various measures to promote packaging reduction and recycling, prompted in part by the European Single Use Plastics (SUP) and Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation Directive. Measures taken by supermarkets include: reducing plastic packaging, encouraging reuse and collection and recycling. In the Netherlands, companies that market (plastic) packaging pay a type of packaging tax, which they partly pass on to consumers.
The fresh produce category (fruit, vegetables, and bread) and the chilled fresh category (cut vegetables, ready-to-eat meals, meat, fish, and dairy) in supermarkets are heavily influenced by measures and regulations around packaging reduction and recycling. The challenge here is to strike a balance between food safety, shelf life, customer convenience versus reducing plastic packaging. The consumer price should not become much higher because of these measures.
What are we looking for?
Dirk van den Broek is looking for solutions to address the challenge of reducing the use of (fossil-based) plastic packaging in the fresh food category. We are thinking of the following solution directions:
- Alternatives to Single-Use Packaging
Solutions that replace single-use plastic with durable, recyclable, reusable, or multi-use forms of packaging. - Biodegradable Packaging and Materials Innovations
Development of novel biodegradable packaging materials, e.g. seaweed pouches, corn starch-based packaging, mushroom root materials, casein protein, pressed hay, bagasse (sugarcane byproduct), or wood pulp cellophane. - Efficient Packaging Concepts
New production and packaging technologies that minimize material use, improve resource efficiency, and reduce reliance on plastic packaging. - Packaging-Free Retail Concepts
Ideas for eliminating single-use packaging, such as packaging-free vegetables and fruits, bring-your-own or reusable container concepts. - Consumer Engagement and Behavior Change
Tools, products, or services that empower consumers to choose sustainable packaging options and adopt better recycling habits. - Wildcard Innovations
Out-of-the-box solutions not captured by the above criteria but hold potential to significantly reduce single-use plastic packaging in the fresh category.
Why participate?
Dirk has serious intentions and budget to find a (partial) solutions to one of the packaging challenges. Because of the breadth of solutions and involvement of suppliers, among others, it is difficult to give an indication in advance of the value of a possible (pilot) collaboration. Possible forms of collaboration can be:
- Dirk as (launching) customer
- Pilot projects to test new concepts in real stores
- Introductions to Dirk's suppliers
- A first step towards possible upscaling to 10 affiliated Superunie supermarket chains.
How does it work?
- Send in a short and concise pitch deck with your solution
- As soon as you have uploaded your pitch, you will receive a confirmation so that you know that we have received your pitch.
- Your pitch is only visible to Dirk van den Broek.
- After the deadline, Dirk van den Broek will assess all pitches individually and invite the companies with the most interesting / best fitting solutions for 1-on-1 introduction meetings to be planned after the selection
- If you both see potential in a collaboration, you can make agreements about follow-ups!
Participation requirements
- Capable of starting a pilot project/proof-of-concept within 6 months as an officially registered company.
- The solution may have to comply with applicable food laws and regulations.
- Participation is open to startups, scale-ups, SMEs, mature companies and other innovators with an innovative solution, product and/or technology.
Your submission (max 6 pages / 18 slides)
- Description of the solution:
Provide the most concrete description possible of your solution. - Description of the pilot:
Provide a brief description of what is needed to develop and/or set up a pilot for your solution and what you need from us. Address the support needs, necessary access/materials/data, and the financial proposal for the pilot and, if successful, for the long term. - Team description:
Provide a brief description of the company and team that will implement the pilot.
The submission can be made in any format (presentation/slide deck, letter form) but must be uploaded as a PDF file (landscape or portrait A4, max. 30MB). Videos, sample websites, etc., can be included as links within it.
Submissions in English are allowed.
Intellectual property
You remain the owner of the intellectual rights, concept, or solution in your submission until we, by mutual agreement, decide otherwise.
Be aware that the submission (and the concepts and ideas in it) will be viewed and shared with (internal) stakeholders. Keep IP-sensitive unique (technical) details out of the submission, save it as a secret that can be shared later.
Timeline
- February 4: Launch of the challenge
- Monday, March 24, 17:00 (CET): Challenge deadline
- By Monday, March 31: Announcement of the first selection
- April: 1-on-1 (online) meetings with first selection of participants.
- May/June: Collaboration shaping with the selected party/parties
- Q3 2025: Start pilot/test Proof of Concept