OUR MISSION
We aim to empower small restaurants and students to reduce their carbon footprint by replacing single-use plastic takeout containers with reusable takeout containers
THE ISSUE
Takeout is creating a TRASH EPIDEMIC!
It is "estimated [that] 75% of coronavirus plastic will likely become waste clogging our landfills and floating in our sea" (United Nations Conference on Trade Development). Now as schools are planned to reopen, restaurants near the UC Berkeley campus are far more dependent on single-use plastic containers. This is exactly where PlateUp plays an important role. We help combat the issue of single-use plastic waste through our takeout container service by replacing single-use plastic containers with reusable containers, allowing restaurants and students to significantly reduce their carbon footprint affordably. Our first three months will be dedicated to testing a simplified version of our service using biodegradable containers. With this, we will be able to observe how our service performs in the market and generate feedback to make improvements.
OUR SOLUTION
PlateUp’s plan of operations is to first contact small restaurants located around the UC Berkeley campus that want to reduce their carbon footprint but find it too expensive. We will then distribute PlateUp Boxes (initially sugarcane biodegradable containers, later reusables) to the partnering restaurants and place PlateUp Bins near the restaurants and around the UC Berkeley campus. When we launch our service, our customers will have the option of choosing the PlateUp Box for takeout. After a customer is done with their meal, they can find the nearest PlateUp Bin, scan the QR code on it to notify us that they have participated, and toss their PlateUp Box into the designated PlateUp Bin. Participants will also collect points when using our service that they can use to redeem prizes from our website. The system of returning the boxes is essential to our service so we can ensure that the boxes end up in the correct facilities.
WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT?
Most initiatives similar to ours target high-end customers and charge them hundreds of dollars for sustainable takeout services. Comparatively, we are dedicated to providing small mom-and-pop restaurants eco-friendly boxes to make going green accessible for everyone. We believe that sustainability is essential for everyone, regardless of race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Through PlateUp, we strive to bridge the gap between sustainability and accessibility.
OUR TEAM
Rhea Grover
Rhea is enthusiastic about outreach and giving back to her community. She is studying Legal Studies and Human Rights and is a Project Manager and the Vice President of Communications of Enactus at Berkeley. Previously, she has worked as a youth advisor to prevent the spread of alcohol and drug abuse in the city of Hayward and founded weCreate, a platform for artists to showcase creativity, learn the skills of entrepreneurship, and serve their community. She is excited to continue her entrepreneurial journey for social good.
Ryan Situ
Ryan is an advocate for mass change for the betterment of the people and world. Falling in love with the understanding of humans and how things in the world interact, he has found his call through human centered design. Since 4 years old, Ryan was a visual artist and his passion for creating things made the leap from art to designing effortless. Continuing to strive for better knowledge studying cognitive science, Ryan will also fight for the improvement of his community through PlateUp.
Daivik Buch
Daivik loves working on sustainable, green projects. He is a sophomore studying economics and data science. He is the Senior Lead of the Rainwater Harvesting team in Berkeley’s Project RISHI. Daivik is excited to work on PlateUp to reduce plastic waste in the oceans and public spaces.
Novia Kayfetz-Vuong
Novia is passionate about conservation and different ways to help protect the environment. She is a transfer student double majoring in Biological Chemistry in Molecular & Cellular Biology and in Integrative Biology. In addition to PlateUp, she is currently researching nudibranch genomics as an undergraduate researcher in Tarvin Lab. Novia is excited to be a part of PlateUp to work towards her goal of making our society more green.
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Jinsung Huh
Jinsung Huh is a sophomore and the VP of Finance in Enactus. He is currently majoring in Energy Engineering and minoring in EECS. His dream occupation is to be a pioneer in renewable energy and bring modern technology to communities in need. PlateUp has been one of the most enjoyable experiences for him in college because it is a small family where everyone knows each other and is working towards making the world a greener place.
Khyati Garg
Khyati is a sophomore studying chemical engineering and climate science. She is really passionate about climate change and is interested in anything and everything that can halt or reverse the effects of climate change. Khyati is super excited about working on PlateUp, which is a great initiative to reduce waste in landfills as well as reduce carbon footprint. Aside from PlateUp she is working on carbon capture technologies at LBNL.
Andrea Juwono
Andrea is a junior studying Data Science & Creative Writing at UC Berkeley. Born and raised in Indonesia, she developed a passion for entrepreneurship and providing equitable opportunities to underprivileged communities. She has had numerous experiences with startups and product design, and remains inspired to respond to nature's cries.
ADVISOR
Rakhi Sharma
Rakhi is a product leader who is passionate about building, managing and marketing digital and consumer products that impact lives globally while leading and inspiring team members to deliver high-quality products; and who recognizes how software design & implementation and deep market insights are critical for developing products & services serving a diverse client base.
In a decade+ of work, on the East and West Coasts of the US and India, her experience spanned small startups to international giants, & and areas as diverse as strategic thinking, product management, project management, leading teams, digital marketing, software architecture design, and software development.