Clew
Clew recycles nearly all of your food waste, in under 2 hours, from your countertop
$374,701
Highlights
Our Team
Pitch
Why? Because food waste does not properly decompose in landfill.
Sources: FoodPrint | EPA (a) | EPA (b) | NRDC | W&M
Unfortunately, in the United States, we're sending it there from our own homes...
Source: EPA
...and those homes produce the most food waste in the supply chain.
Source: ReFED
But, it's not your fault if you don't know this!
Groups like Project Drawdown are doing the work to bring to light how the world can change it’s habits to the point of “Drawdown,” the point in which greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stops climbing and starts declining.
They state that reducing food waste across the entire supply chain clocks in as the most effective solution to climate change, as shown in this graph below.
Source: Project Drawdown
Food waste needs to be reduced on the farm and in industrial, consumer, municipal, and residential settings in order to be this impactful.
People are getting a clue about this, and that's why they need to get a Clew.
This is how people are currently getting clued in:
Many of these options don’t support certain lifestyles or are unavailable.
People need a solution that works with their small spaces, busy lifestyle, and/or are more user-friendly. (hint: this is where Clew comes into play)
People are starting to buy food waste recyclers to solve their food waste problems.
All food waste recyclers can do a majority if not all of the below.
Clew plans to do all of that and more:
Our fundamental concept is dehydration and grinding, in order to reduce mass and volume as much as possible, in as little time as possible!
Food waste, the input, is placed into the Clew countertop appliance, the lid is shut, and it follows the process above to create the final dried fertilizer, called the output, in under 2 hours.
And where does this output go exactly?
Hey! That’s a great question, and, so you know, we’re not in the business of claiming more than we can chew (that’s the saying, right?). In our next phase, we will be exploring with experts how to maximize the output’s potential, but for now, check out what we do know!
What we know: You can store the output in an old salsa jar or snack bag without it growing mold or smells before getting it to a collection site, utilize a platform like ShareWaste, or place it into your food waste municipal bin.
What we want to explore: How to safely integrate the output into soil as a fertilizer or placed as a top layer for gardens/yards. Other food waste recyclers claim you can do this and then in the fine print provide many exceptions to the rule. Nothing worse to us would be that you lose your plant babies because your output wasn’t optimized quite right.
Clew’s Design Inspiration
Clew is planning to be designed with the modern, design-forward home in mind. Clew products will be fun to use, approachable, and stand out as a true icon in your kitchen.
Our Proof of Concept Fact Sheet
- Processes at least 2.1 liters of food waste in less than 2 hours
- Handles a wider variety of food waste scraps such as avocado pits, bones, and nut shells
- Reduces food waste mass by 80%
- Footprint is appropriate for a countertop
What are our next steps for Clew’s development?
We’re fundraising to take Clew from a “proof of concept” to an Alpha prototype, which will start to accomplish the below inefficiencies with our engineering and industrial design partners.
- Energy consumption
- Noise
- Cleanability
- Output size
- Designing for easy repair and material reuse
- Form factor, size, materials, and user journey
After that phase, we will develop and fundraise towards a works-like and looks-like Beta Prototype. That prototype will resemble the final Clew, and will be used for in-home testing refinement.
Meet the Crew building Clew
A special thanks to our partner companies who have joined our mission at Clew. Through their guidance they have pushed Clew to be the most authentic version of itself. We look forward to our continued partnership with Ronin and in welcoming Box Clever to this next phase of design and development!
Product Engineering Firm: Ronin Product Development Labs
Past Projects: FitBit, GoPro, Square, Brava Oven
- Dan Kennedy, Lead Mechanical Engineer & Partner
- Xander Bremer, Senior Mechanical Engineer & Partner
Industrial Design Studio: Box Clever
Past Projects: AWAY Suitcase, Caraway, Nebia, July
- Bret Recor, Founder & Creative Director
Timeline
*These projections are not guaranteed.
Some Words on Authenticity
The regenerative movement is inundated with companies claiming “sustainable materials” and “bioplastics” to market more things people do not need. Authenticity is how Clew attracts and retains relationships with people as they start getting a clue about their environmental impact.
Greenwashing must no longer be tolerated.
We believe no product should ever end up in landfills.
We plan to design with the Circular Economy at the forefront of our products.
So what does that mean?
The materials that Clew plans to be made with live in safe and potentially infinite circulations. During the design and manufacturing process we ensure that your Clew is already optimized as a material resource for its next life.
While you’re here, meet our values!
If you’ve made it this far, we want to thank you for getting to know us. We are astonished at the level of support and well wishes from friends, family, and others who believe in us and our mission. It goes so far and is tucked away in our hearts in times of need.
For a quick background, Joyce and I met in 2017 at a creative agency in NYC, building out and designing Peloton’s first nationwide tour across the United States. A year later we launched 3 pop-up stores on the same day for FILA in Seoul, Tokyo, and New York City. These unique experiences have built such a strong working relationship and friendship between us, and has proven that we can tackle many a challenge thrown at us. We draw inspiration from our untraditional backgrounds and creative problem solving abilities when approaching this big freaking problem of food waste. We’re fueled by learning and knowledge and can truly say it’s been so fun getting to this point to bring our idea to a reality.
We started this campaign because, like composting, we wanted to make fundraising more of an equitable process. By investing in Clew or passing along this campaign, you’re getting a say in the future world that you want to live in. We are proud our fundraising efforts are a mix of diverse outlets such as this crowdfunding campaign, investment from our partner orgs, and values-aligned angel investors who wish to be more than a paycheck.
We always welcome feedback, concerns, well wishes, and questions as we hope this is just the beginning for Clew. We recognize that this is going to take a village, and we’re so honored to have you as a part of it.
With the Utmost Gratitude,
Joyce + Spencer
Want to learn more? Check out our FAQs!