The Costa Rica-United States of America Foundation for Cooperation (Crusa) awarded $ 10,000 to the Costa Rican proposal BioEmpaques. It is one of the three winning projects of the “No-Waste Central America Contest” promoted by the Inter-American Development Bank.
The Costa Rican proposal that won one of the three awards in the contest develops alternative packaging to plastic and 100% biodegradable. This with the purpose of reducing food waste and the consumption of single-use plastic, lengthening the useful life of vegetables, fruits and vegetables without polluting the planet. Crusa highlighted that the BioEmpaques product prevents fruits and vegetables from dehydrating.
Concern about food loss
José Ramón Gómez, representative of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Costa Rica, commented that “this contest arises from a concern: food losses in Latin America and the Caribbean can reach 12% of total production, about 220 million tons per year, this in a context where 42 million people suffer from severe food insecurity, a situation that has worsened due to the health crisis,” he added.
“The high participation and quality of the proposals reflect the interest and commitment to provide innovative solutions to these types of challenges,” said Flora Montealegre, Executive Delegate of Fundación Crusa.
Seed capital
The 3 winning proposals obtained seed capital and personalized incubation courses. In addition to BioEmpaques, Agro360 from the Dominican Republic was the winner, an Artificial Intelligence and sensors proposal that predicts and early detects agricultural diseases. And finally, Random Impact from Guatemala, which promotes the production of animal protein based on insects fed with organic waste.
