SPRK - Pioneer in the fight against food waste
07.11.2023 - Food waste is a global problem with a devastating impact on the environment and the economy. Every year, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 1.3 billion tonnes of edible food is simply thrown away worldwide, which has a negative impact on climate change and resources. Tackling this challenge and creating a sustainable economy in the food sector is the aim of the Berlin start-up SPRK.global.
The scale of the waste is almost unimaginable: according to a study by the WWF in 2022, food waste is responsible for ten per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In Germany alone, an estimated 12 million tonnes of edible food is thrown away every year; the WWF even speaks of 18 million tonnes. By far the greatest waste occurs in private households, but around 25 per cent of still edible goods are turned into waste in production, processing and retail before they even reach the consumer. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), every tonne of wasted food corresponds to 2.5 tonnes of unnecessaryCO2 emissions.
Foundation and objectives
The company SPRK.global (SPRK), founded by Alexander Piutti in 2020, has therefore set itself the goal of reducing food waste along the entire supply chain and reducing it in the long term. For the experienced serial founder and CEO, this results in a profitable business model for everyone involved, based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals number 2 (End hunger), number 12 (Consume and produce responsibly), number 13 (Act to protect the climate) and number 17 (Partnerships).
The company uses an AI-supported B2B trading platform to redistribute surplus, edible food in line with demand, thus ensuring that it remains in circulation. On the one hand, there is a surplus, for example in agriculture, the processing industry and in wholesale and retail, which has to be disposed of if there is no demand. On the other hand, there are certainly buyers for goods that do not meet the commercial standard or are too close to the legal best-before date to be sold. Commercial kitchens, caterers, NGOs or even the catering and hotel industry are happy to have the opportunity to obtain these foods at a significantly lower price than the usual retail price.
In between, SPRK uses an AI network to bring suppliers and buyers together. "We are creating a data highway," explains Alexander Piutti, "which ensures intelligent matchmaking between supply and demand. We make surpluses transparent and ensure that they are channelled into the circular economy. We find buyers, recoup sales and save on disposal costs."
Technology and platform
In collaboration with Lufthansa Industry Solutions, SPRK is developing a retail platform for this purpose that utilises a technology called "neural collaborative filtering". This involves feeding artificial intelligence with information about products and previous transactions in order to automatically recognise matches between the product range and potential customers and bring them together on this basis. With this technological approach, SPRK took first place worldwide in 2020 in the largest "Tech For Good" competition, the XTC Extreme Tech Challenge, for sustainable start-ups (Smart Cities category) and was nominated for the 2021 "Too good for the bin" federal award (Digitalisation category).
Funding and growth
In December 2022, SPRK completed a successful financing round of six million euros. The investors are primarily impact investors who want their investments to have a measurable social and environmental impact in addition to a financial return. They include Dr Brigitte Mohn as a proven impact expert and the experienced entrepreneur Thorsten M. Schiefer as a business angel. Commenting on these successes, Alexander Piutti says: "Fortunately, impact business models are increasingly in demand. It is no longer enough just to build a marketplace. It is important that it is also linked to demonstrable goals for a better world, and with SPRK we are doing just that," explains the CEO of SPRK. "Our business model is closely aligned with the sustainability goals of the United Nations. Every redistributed tonne of food has a one-to-one impact on climate protection." The funds acquired from the financing round will primarily be used to expand the AI-supported trading platform.
Partnerships and successes
Since its foundation, SPRK has already gained over 150 partners, including food processing companies such as mirontell fein & frisch AG, Eurest Deutschland (a subsidiary of the Compass Group, world market leader in catering and food services) and the 25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin as a purchasing partner for circular products. Other partners include agricultural producers, wholesalers, the central warehouse of the food retail trade and the logistics group Dachser.
SPRK has also been working successfully with the Danish start-up Too Good To Go since summer 2022. The Too Good to Go app gives consumers access to the goods registered with SPRK. There, users can order surprise boxes or bags of food at a lower price. The products are then ready for collection at distribution points in Berlin. In this way, edible surplus food is saved from being wasted and kept in circulation. Together, the cooperation has redistributed over 100,000 surprise food boxes within a year, which corresponds to a saving of 1,000 tonnes of "rescued" food. This synergy has already enabled over 2,500 tonnes ofCO2 equivalents to be avoided.
Outlook and future
SPRK is pursuing ambitious goals. In the long term, AI should help to make better forecasts, sustainably optimise the matching of surpluses and relevant buyers and even reduce the overproduction of food, which is at the very beginning of the food waste chain. "We are convinced that we can solve the problem of food waste within the supply chain globally in a few years," says Alexander Piutti. "The key lies in digitalising the supply chain, networking supply chain players and consolidating product data. If we know where which goods are available in which condition and know in advance where they are needed, we can redistribute them immediately and precisely. Whether locally, regionally or globally - the system should work everywhere."
Cover picture: Polina Kovaleva/Pexels
Since his editorial traineeship in Hamburg, Jan Strahl has worked as a journalist, editor or author for almost every large and small publishing house in the city. He writes for consumer media and corporate publishing publications on art, fashion, lifestyle and knowledge topics.
