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A fisherman supplier for SmartFish in Mexico

Social enterprises driving global change on World Food Day

Every year on 16 October, World Food Day highlights important topics such as food waste, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, and the challenges faced by fishing communities — all in an effort to combat climate change. This year's theme is "Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future”. It's the perfect opportunity for us to shine a spotlight on the incredible efforts of social entrepreneurs, who are making everyday life better for so many people and how they're creating a more sustainable and inclusive world.

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Plépah

Location
Banyuasin, Indonesia

Programme
Indonesia Accelerator
in partnership with Instellar

Website
www.plepah.com

Plépah gives farmers and local communities a sustainable income by selling their biodegradable packages made from agricultural waste


The use of plastic food packaging is rapidly increasing in Indonesia. During the pandemic, home deliveries have gone up and so has the amount of plastic packages that end up as non-recyclable waste in the environment. Plépah tackles this problem while at the same time supporting farmers and local communities. By selling their biodegradable packages made from agricultural materials it gives them a sustainable income.  

Inspired by a passion for design and a commitment to promoting the circular economy in Indonesia, Plépah creates innovative, eco-friendly packaging. Giving agricultural waste such as Areca palm leaf sheath a second life, the social enterprise works with local producers to design carbon neutral and biodegradable packages for foods and cosmetics.  

The Plépah founders put emphasis on design, innovation and community empowerment because they believe these values are the key in creating sustainable, democratic and circular solutions.  

Women are empowered by providing a workplace with flexible working hours. Youth from local areas who are interested in innovative design are offered learning and job opportunities. To date, Plepah has succeeded in giving around 1,000 smallholder farmer families and unskilled worker households a new source of income as material collectors and packaging producers. 

This way, the social enterprise reduces excessive post-consumer waste while bringing much-needed economic stability to local communities. At the same time, it develops the villagers’ business management skills and increases their awareness about protecting the environment.

Plepah - content
Social enterprise Plepah works with local producers to design carbon neutral and biodegradable packages for foods and cosmetics.
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The programme will allow the Plepah team to create more jobs in micro-manufacturing for farmers and communities and scale up the production of eco-friendly packaging solutions.  
 
They will also work with the IKEA mentors and Instellar experts on product development and access to new markets. Among others, Plepah will continue to build new partnerships to expand their offer in additional product lines, further expanding into the cosmetics and fashion industry packaging.

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Being part of the accelerator is a dream come true. We admire the values, vision and mission that IKEA holds. We will gain a lot of knowledge in the programme that will contribute to our mission to alleviate the environmental burden and strengthen the socioeconomic resilience of farmers and communities in Indonesia. 

Almira Zulfikar – Co-founder and COO of Plépah.