We Turn Trash Into Treasure,
to advocate for the environment and for women.
Hello from Our Co-founders
We are Alison, Coco & Peggy from Hong Kong.
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The story of food waste jewelry all started from Peggy working at a food bank where she noticed the roots of the food waste issue in Hong Kong were the low awareness of the people of the city, and the absence of food waste management policy.
While Alison and Coco were also strong advocates for environmental sustainability in their own terms, we three thereby turned our idea into action, creating food waste jewelry as a NUDGE to provoke behavior change in food waste reduction, and to engage less-resourced communities, in particular underprivileged women, in the process.
Since the start of the project in late 2019, we have felt a stronger sense of duty to advocate for environmental sustainability through public education, and to empower our team of young single mothers through work & training, who are on the path of recognizing own worth and values.
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We hope you love our food waste jewelry, and Get Creative & Impact Lives with us!
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Thank You,
Alison, Coco & Peggy
Our Approach
Sustainability
Education
Circular Economy
Female
Empowerment
Sustainability Education
Food waste jewelry is our creative nudge to push forward sustainability education, as little do people know about the staggering facts of food waste.
In Hong Kong, we throw about 3,353 tonnes of food waste into our landfills every day, which is equivalent to the weight of 233 double decker buses, and 68% comes from local households rather than different sectors of the food industry. The disposal waste in landfills also releases Methane, which is 25 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide.
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Other countries have already explored ways to minimize food waste through policy and repurpose it as a resource. But sadly, there has been no significant progress made by the Hong Kong government to tackle food waste at its roots.
That's why we hope to catch everyone's attention with food waste jewelry to ensure, whether at pop-ups, schools or corporates, people will get educated about food waste, and encouraged to take actions and drive collective impacts for a sustainable future.
And in 2023, we take it to another level with our "Waste Out" Leader Program, supported by Topaz Edelweiss Foundation, with an ultimate aim to empower youths to combat food waste and to build their sustainability competency through individual and collective actions.
Circular Economy
We repurpose food waste, in particular fruit peels and uncooked veggie scraps, and turn it into jewelry.
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The whole process of the upcycling takes around 48 hours, from dehydrating the food waste, grinding it to crumbs, mixing it with Bio-Epoxy that is derived from vegan waste and has 77% bio-content, molding the mixture into desired shapes, air-drying for 2 days, sanding the beads, assembling it with jewelry attachments, and coating.
The bead colors partly come from the natural pigments of the peels of fruits and veggies. We also add colored-sparkles to make it more shimmering and eye-catching.
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While food waste collection is not our priority, we work with corporates in creating unique gifts for their audience with their office's food waste. And the food waste we are using now is from household waste of Ways Out's Team.
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Learn more about the sustainability of food waste jewelry.
How do we upcycle food waste into jewelry?
Dehydrate
Grind
Mix with Bio-Epoxy
Mold
Package
Assemble & Coat
Sand beads
Dry for 48 hours
Female Empowerment
Every person deserves a second chance, so does our team of young single mothers.
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The majority of the 5,400 crisis pregnancies in our city are single girls aged 25 or under, according to Mother's Choice. They often face unprecedented challenges physically and financially after giving birth as they have to juggle between childcare and work, not to mention their limited employment options due to low-education background and the fact that less than 20% of the employers in town adopt family-friendly employment policies. The room for personal development is limited for the young single mothers.
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While priorities for less-resourced communities are often to meet basic needs rather than environmental issues as reported, we do believe sustainability is relevant to everyone regardless of social classes and that's why we engage the mothers who are in need of flexible work, workplace skills and extra income.
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We thereby initiated the "Marvel Mami Talent Development Program" where we train up talented young single mothers to be our jewelry makers, workshop assistants, workshop facilitators, event assistants and operation assistants. Not only do they gain experiences and skills from trainings and on-site work, but also fair work pay and a safe community where they can connect with other like-minded mothers.
Empowered Women
JiuJiu
as Operation Assistant
JiuJiu has always been the backbone of our work from being the craftwoman of the food waste jewelry. Now she has taken it to another level by helping with all sorts of administrative work, handling orders and stock taking to ensure a smooth daily operation.
Candy
as Workshop Facilitator
Through a series of trainings on public speaking and job shadowing experiences, Candy has mastered the art of managing our signature workshops and is now able to take the lead in facilitating workshops for a diverse audience with confidence and eloquence.
Our Team
Alison Chow
Business Development
Graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 2019 with a Bachelor Degree majoring in Sociology and Politics, Alison is an adventurer and advocate...
Coco Ho
Operations & Finance
Coco has been having a great interest in environmental preservation since a few years ago and has decided to further study and gain in-depth knowledge in...
Peggy Lam
Communications & Education
Peggy possesses a background in governmental bodies, education, and nonprofits and is a strong advocate for education and sustainability...