Blue Economy

What is blue economy?

The Blue Economy refers to a social entreprise model rooted in using what you have available, adding value and being inspired by Nature. Originally pioneered by the Belgian entrepreneur, author, and professor Gunter Pauli, this innovative approach is similar to concepts like the regenerative economy and Permaculture design. While Circularity (zero-waste) is a core aspect of the blue economy, it goes beyond by generating value with cascading benefits.

A great case-study to illustrate is coffee: When we brew a cup of coffee, less than 1% ends up in the cup. The remaining grounds are often discarded and wasted despite being an incredible organic material. Gunter Pauli has been a proponent of using discarded coffee grounds as a substrate to grow mushrooms, as well as many industrial uses in the textile (textile polymers) and cosmetics (oils). I’ve written about this previouly, and it encapsulates the blue economy ethos perfectly, while there are hundreds more cases to be explored, at various scales.

Coffee Pixels: tasty zero-waste coffee chocolate

In fact, as I write this, I am savouring a bar of Coffee Pixels, a tasty caffeinated dark chocolate bar that uses the cascara, or the red cherry pulp which contains the beans. Instead of discarding this precious pulp as is usually the case, Coffee Pixels incorporates this fruity pulp to make a chocolate bar rich in antioxidants and packing 50mg of caffeine per bar (or the equivalent of 1 espresso shot) in edible form. This is juste the tip of the iceberg when it comes to innovation for coffee, an industry that serves 500 billion cups every year and worth more than a $100 billion (conservatively) .

While minimising waste is a key aspect, another is leveraging locally available resources and the strengthening of local communities. Gunter Pauli has given countless presentations and demonstrations of entrepreneurs who have walked the talk (some of which I’ve about on my blog), and has truly inspired me to jump on this ship. The goal of this section is to present a portfolio of ideas that I’m particularly attracted to, as well as areas which I have experience with. If you would like to get in touch with me for consultation, feel free to leave a message or DM me on Twitter.