A FLEDGLING Scottish company has secured a £375,000 investment to commercialise a patent-pending process to recycle coffee grounds into a “sustainable alternative” to palm oil.
Glasgow-based Revive Eco was launched by co-founders Fergus Moore and Scott Kennedy in 2019, on the back of a project the pair carried out during their undergraduate degrees at the University of Strathclyde when they both worked in coffee shops in the city.
Revive Eco extracts high-value, natural chemicals from coffee grounds to create an alternative to palm oil that can be used across the cosmetics, home cleaning, pharmaceutical, and food and drink sectors.
The funding round was led by Gabriel Investment Syndicate, with Scottish Enterprise and the University of Strathclyde also participating.
Revive Eco, which is aiming to build its workforce, add engineering expertise, and scale up its manufacturing capability, said it was set to begin trials with a “number of big brands in the UK and across Europe”.
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The company, which recently appointed chief executive of business-angel syndicate Archangels and experienced non-executive director John Waddell as chairman, hopes to announce a series of partnerships and contract wins in 2023.
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It noted more than 500,000 tonnes of used coffee grounds are produced in the UK every year, costing the coffee industry around £80 million per annum in waste-removal expenses.
Revive Eco added that annual production of palm oil, which it noted was found in many household products, totalled around 70 million tonnes.
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Mr Moore said: “With the support of our investors, we can progress our mission to make coffee the most sustainable commodity on the planet, and move our production from the lab to industrial scale.”
He added: “With the rise of ESG (environmental, social and governance), corporations and manufacturers are under increasing pressure to find alternatives to palm oil, so the moment for us to help bring about change is here and now.”
Gill MacAulay, director of Gabriel IS, said: “We are...excited that the business will now have the capability to make a real difference to sustainability levels in the coffee industry. It is a truly commendable action to be driving green change in this way.”
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