By Nick Nichols
13 February 202
When it comes to helping local cafes join the circular economy, Little Green Panda founder Manon Beauchamp-Tardieu is on the money with her startup’s range of single-use coffee cups and cutlery that can decompose as quickly as a piece of fruit when thrown in the trash.
The Melbourne-based founder says it was her discovery five years ago that sustainability and convenience can co-exist that drives her to push the boundaries of sustainable solutions, which are increasingly being embraced by consumers and businesses.
Beauchamp-Tardieu's journey is the latest in a series on circular economy trailblazers we are running at Business News Australia.
After initially struggling to win over customers when she established the startup in 2019, Beauchamp-Tardieu is now looking to scale Little Green Panda, including an expanded product range, to keep up with solid demand, particularly from the Australian hospitality sector.
Little Green Panda transforms agricultural waste into biodegradable alternatives that replace single-use plastics with sustainable products ranging from drinking straws to coffee cups and disposable coffee cutlery. The straws are produced from sugar cane, the cups from plant puree and the cutlery from coffee grounds collected from cafes.
“It’s the perfect 360-degree circle,” Beauchamp-Tardieu tells Business News Australia.
“We create innovative sustainable packaging solutions that are designed to disappear just like a piece of fruit. We specialise in home compostable products made from food waste and natural fibres to supply the hospitality industry with eco-friendly alternatives to single-use plastics.
“So, with our disposable cups, you can still do good for the environment and not feel guilty while enjoying your coffee.”
While Beauchamp-Tardieu’s journey into the circular economy hit a few dead ends early on, the determined entrepreneur says the hard lessons along the way have been invaluable in building the foundation for growth she currently enjoys.
Little Green Panda scored a free kick in 2021 when single-use plastic bans were first introduced in some Australian states.
“I was expecting to sell B2C, but when the ban on plastics came in our social media was drenched with DMs from cafes wanting to use our products,” says Beauchamp-Tardieu.
After initially kicking off the startup by selling reusable natural bamboo straws, Little Green Panda later graduated its product line to include straws made individually by hand from wheat stalks that were discarded from the making of straw hats and bags.
The limited practicality of that business model was evident when customers sought a more sophisticated, mass-produced sustainable alternative.
“That’s when we developed the sugar cane-based straws which we were able to mould into different sizes for smoothies and bubble teas,” says Beauchamp-Tardieu. “That’s when we hit the jackpot, when it went gangbusters.”
Among the key innovations for Little Green Panda has been the development of fully compostable cups and cutlery for cafes – with the latter a more palatable alternative to bamboo spoons and forks that often stick to the tongue and lips.
“We collect the coffee grounds from cafes and use that waste to make it into a fork, knife and spoon, which is a perfect circular economy moment because it is waste that would have gone into the bin, or worse burned; we process it to make cutlery that goes back into the soil,” says Beauchamp-Tardieu.
“The beauty of these products is that they are all designed to break down like a piece of fruit. They leave no trace behind, and no matter which bin you put them in they will literally disappear.
“They feel durable just like plastic except they are home compostable, which means you can even put them in your green bin.”
In 2023, Little Green Panda launched home compostable coffee cups that are made from plant puree. These products are also “home compostable” as there are no plastics used for the inner lining.
“We simply turned the leftover pulp from making our straws into a paste and then a cup, and then we lined our technology inside the cup to make it water resistant and fully compostable,” says Beauchamp-Tardieu.
“A lot of single-use cups are lined with plastic inside and specifically in Australia we don’t have the right facilities to be able to separate the different materials.”
Beauchamp-Tardieu points out that there are two types of compostable plastics – industrial and home compostables, with the former requiring higher temperatures in a factory setting to be broken down.
“We are seeing more development from other brands trying to get into compostable plastics which is exciting, but the whole purpose of our products is that you don’t have to recycle,” says Beauchamp-Tardieu.
When it comes to helping local cafes join the circular economy, Little Green Panda founder Manon Beauchamp-Tardieu is on the money with her startup’s range of single-use coffee cups and cutlery that can decompose as quickly as a piece of fruit when thrown in the trash.
The Melbourne-based founder says it was her discovery five years ago that sustainability and convenience can co-exist that drives her to push the boundaries of sustainable solutions, which are increasingly being embraced by consumers and businesses.
Beauchamp-Tardieu's journey is the latest in a series on circular economy trailblazers we are running at Business News Australia.
After initially struggling to win over customers when she established the startup in 2019, Beauchamp-Tardieu is now looking to scale Little Green Panda, including an expanded product range, to keep up with solid demand, particularly from the Australian hospitality sector.
Little Green Panda transforms agricultural waste into biodegradable alternatives that replace single-use plastics with sustainable products ranging from drinking straws to coffee cups and disposable coffee cutlery. The straws are produced from sugar cane, the cups from plant puree and the cutlery from coffee grounds collected from cafes.
“It’s the perfect 360-degree circle,” Beauchamp-Tardieu tells Business News Australia.
“We create innovative sustainable packaging solutions that are designed to disappear just like a piece of fruit. We specialise in home compostable products made from food waste and natural fibres to supply the hospitality industry with eco-friendly alternatives to single-use plastics.
“So, with our disposable cups, you can still do good for the environment and not feel guilty while enjoying your coffee.”
While Beauchamp-Tardieu’s journey into the circular economy hit a few dead ends early on, the determined entrepreneur says the hard lessons along the way have been invaluable in building the foundation for growth she currently enjoys.
Little Green Panda scored a free kick in 2021 when single-use plastic bans were first introduced in some Australian states.
“I was expecting to sell B2C, but when the ban on plastics came in our social media was drenched with DMs from cafes wanting to use our products,” says Beauchamp-Tardieu.
After initially kicking off the startup by selling reusable natural bamboo straws, Little Green Panda later graduated its product line to include straws made individually by hand from wheat stalks that were discarded from the making of straw hats and bags.
The limited practicality of that business model was evident when customers sought a more sophisticated, mass-produced sustainable alternative.
“That’s when we developed the sugar cane-based straws which we were able to mould into different sizes for smoothies and bubble teas,” says Beauchamp-Tardieu. “That’s when we hit the jackpot, when it went gangbusters.”
Among the key innovations for Little Green Panda has been the development of fully compostable cups and cutlery for cafes – with the latter a more palatable alternative to bamboo spoons and forks that often stick to the tongue and lips.
“We collect the coffee grounds from cafes and use that waste to make it into a fork, knife and spoon, which is a perfect circular economy moment because it is waste that would have gone into the bin, or worse burned; we process it to make cutlery that goes back into the soil,” says Beauchamp-Tardieu.
“The beauty of these products is that they are all designed to break down like a piece of fruit. They leave no trace behind, and no matter which bin you put them in they will literally disappear.
“They feel durable just like plastic except they are home compostable, which means you can even put them in your green bin.”
In 2023, Little Green Panda launched home compostable coffee cups that are made from plant puree. These products are also “home compostable” as there are no plastics used for the inner lining.
“We simply turned the leftover pulp from making our straws into a paste and then a cup, and then we lined our technology inside the cup to make it water resistant and fully compostable,” says Beauchamp-Tardieu.
“A lot of single-use cups are lined with plastic inside and specifically in Australia we don’t have the right facilities to be able to separate the different materials.”
Beauchamp-Tardieu points out that there are two types of compostable plastics – industrial and home compostables, with the former requiring higher temperatures in a factory setting to be broken down.
“We are seeing more development from other brands trying to get into compostable plastics which is exciting, but the whole purpose of our products is that you don’t have to recycle,” says Beauchamp-Tardieu.
“You can put them in any bin and they break down naturally. That’s the way forward because our recycling system doesn’t have the capacity to separate those two materials. Even if we are doing the right thing by the environment, we just don’t have the capability to process the waste properly.
“Little Green Panda products are all made using agricultural waste that breaks down when in contact with moisture and 25-degree heat.
“If you have worms in your compost bin that will activate it quicker, but all our products disappear within four weeks to 90 days.”
Consumer reticence and higher price points remain a sticking point for sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics, but Beauchamp-Tardieu says the tide is slowly turning.
“Market acceptance at the beginning was a challenge for us because we had to educate people and that is where most of our marketing went,” she says.
“But now because being eco-friendly is the new normal, especially for cafes, a lot more people are making sustainable decisions.”
Economies of scale also are supporting Beauchamp-Tardieu’s mission with unit costs falling as Little Green Panda ramps up production to meet demand.
“When we first launched, we used to sell sugar cane straws for 20c each and I didn’t think anyone would buy them because they were so expensive - but was I wrong.
“Now we have brought it down to 6c per straw, so we know that with economies of scale we can produce more for less.
“A paper straw costs between 2c to 3c and most of the time when you drink a smoothie you have to go through two or three because they just break. At the end you are actually spending the same amount on a paper straw as one of our straws and you also get a great sipping experience with ours.”
Little Green Panda’s growth has been aided by its participation in the CSIRO’s Innovate to Grow program in 2023. The initiative is aimed at helping small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) working in the recycling and circular economy to advance their research goals.
The eight-week recycling and circular economy program is delivered in partnership with Deakin University’s Recycling and Clean Energy Commercialisation Hub, which is supported by the federal government’s Trailblazer Universities Program.
Since 2020, Innovate to Grow has equipped more than 600 SMEs with the knowledge and tools required to progress their research and development opportunities.
CSIRO’s Ending Plastic Waste Research lead Dr Deborah Lau says the program has been critical in bringing science and industry together to create circular pathways for plastics and other recyclable waste.
“Over 9.5 billion tonnes of plastic waste have been produced globally since 1950, with only 9 per cent recycled each year. This is commercially and environmentally unsustainable,” says Lau.
"Working with SMEs is essential to unlocking R&D opportunities that accelerate breakthroughs in science and technology. Through this program, we aim to spark innovation that will shape a sustainable circular ecosystem for plastics and waste through recycling, redesign and reuse.”
Beauchamp-Tardieu says being part of the program gave her small team access to expert advice and industry insight through mentorships and connection with scientists.
“We were actually also able to identify new opportunities for product development and to be able to see if we can bring production here in Australia,” she says.
Little Green Panda currently manufactures its products overseas, but the startup is looking to potentially open a production facility in Melbourne and source its waste locally.
“Currently, we source the raw materials from cafes overseas,” says Beauchamp-Tardieu.
The past five years have been a huge shift in trajectory for the Little Green Bamboo founder who originally planned a career in the fashion industry after finishing university.
“I never thought I was going to get into this, but now after several years of being in the business, the belief that sustainability and convenience can co-exist was a big discovery for me.
“We want to challenge the prevailing idea that eco-friendly products come with a trade off in quality and practicality. We are showing that with innovative design and smart use of materials, we can make sustainable choices an easy decision.”
Source: Business News Australia
