The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has announced the launch of the 'Big Food Redesign Challenge', through which it is encouraging retailers, suppliers, producers and start-ups to embrace circular food design.
The initiative challenges firms to design new food products, or redesign existing ones, using circular design principles, meaning they are produced in a way that regenerates nature.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which promotes the development of a circular economy to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, is hopeful that the first designs from the competition will be completed by the end of the year, with successful concepts going into production in 2024.
'Principles Of Circular Design'
Commenting on the initiative, Ellen MacArthur, founder and chair of trustees at The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said, “We know the problems. The current food system is a key driver of biodiversity loss and accounts for a third of global greenhouse gases.
"By applying the principles of circular design to our food system, we can create food that regenerates nature and tackles some of our most pressing global issues.”
Supporting The Initiative
The Big Food Redesign Challenge is supported by funds raised through the People’s Postcode Lottery and awarded through the Dream Fund, with additional support provided by the Schmidt Family Foundation.
"If we don't dramatically change the way we source, produce, distribute and discard food, we face a future with ongoing plastic pollution, a warming atmosphere, and an ocean losing both the oxygen we breathe and the marine life half the human population depends on for its primary protein," Wendy Schmidt, president and co-founder of the Schmidt Family Foundation added.
Read More: Tackling Plastic Waste With The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
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