Dutch Postcode Lottery Announces 25 Nominees for 2015 Postcode Lottery Green Challenge

AMSTERDAM, July 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time ever, the Dutch Postcode Lottery today announced 25 nominees for its ninth annual Postcode Lottery Green Challenge, the largest sustainable business plan competition that aims to promote a low carbon economy and a greener environment. This year's challenge attracted 271 sustainability-focused entrants from 56 countries, with the selected nominees from England, Germany, Kenya, Netherlands, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, Sweden, and the United States.

"This is the first year that we are announcing nominees from the pre-selection process to further showcase some of the incredible innovation from our participants," said Margriet Schreuders, chair of the preliminary jury and account manager at Dutch Postcode Lottery. "During the selection process, we saw two clear trends emerge: submissions represented a broader geographical mix, including many submissions from the African region, and noticeable growth in the number of initiatives related to food, a topic that reflects contemporary challenges."

Among the 25 nominees are three U.S. based start-ups in the running to win the grand prize of 500,000 euro (approximately $535,000 USD). These nominees include:

• Muufri: Ryan Pandya (23)
  Muufri's unique process for "brewing" milk could address some of the issues associated with commercial dairy farming, eliminating huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions as well as animal suffering. The company has identified the necessary proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals found in dairy products to blend the milk of the future.
• Evrnu: Stacy Flynn (41):
  Evrnu's technology enables the full recycling of post-consumer cotton clothing. It cleans, breaks down and re-dyes clothing fibers to turn them into premium renewable material. Additionally, the new fibers can be engineered to meet custom specifications.
• Evaptainers: Spencer Taylor (33)
  This Boston-based start-up strives to provide affordable refrigeration solutions to address transportation challenges in developing markets by creating electricity-free mobile refrigeration units that run on water and sunshine. By cutting food spoilage and hydrofluorocarbon use, Evaptainers could reduce greenhouse gas emissions while providing developing countries an affordable way to preserve food.

By hosting the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge, Dutch Postcode Lottery seeks to spur the innovation of new products or services that reduce CO2 emissions and greenhouse gases, while continuing the conversation around sustainability and climate change. Each of the 25 nominees will have their own page on the event website to showcase their business proposition and elevator pitch. Finalists will be announced on August 17^th.

• A complete overview of all the nominees can be found here.
• Click here to find out more about the members of the preliminary jury, as well as the international jury of experts who will be judging at the finale of the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge 2015.
• More information about the competition can be found on www.greenchallenge.info.

About the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge
In contribution to a greener world, the Dutch Postcode Lottery has organised the annual Postcode Lottery Green Challenge since 2007. It is the largest annual international competition in the field of sustainability innovation. Each participant must submit a detailed business plan in order for the preliminary jury to establish whether the idea is viable. Meanwhile, winners from previous editions have successfully developed their innovative products thanks to the publicity and network of the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge. In 2014, British entrepreneur Arthur Kay won €500,000 for his business Bio-bean, which converts coffee grounds into biofuels: biodiesel and combustible bio pellets. 

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SOURCE Postcode Lottery Green Challenge

Related Links

http://www.greenchallenge.info