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| Why Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund is investing in this entrepreneur and her plastic waste solution |
| Plastic packaging is an industry-wide challenge, and Amazon is taking several approaches to reduce its packaging and increase how much of its packaging can be recycled. This includes investing in technologies and materials that have helped reduce the weight of packaging per shipment by 38% and eliminated the use of more than 1.5 metric tons of packaging materials since 2015. Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund is investing in entrepreneurs who have creative and innovative solutions to plastic waste, including a recent investment in Genecis, a bioplastics company founded by scientist Luna Yu. Yu is using organic waste like table food scraps to create a bioplastic that is an alternative to conventional plastic packaging. Yu, who founded Genecis at the age of 21, is the first female CEO to receive investment support through the Climate Pledge Fund's Female Founder Initiative. The program is investing $50 million in climate tech companies founded and led by women like Yu, who came up with her idea while studying to become an environmental scientist. Her team is using specialized bacteria to convert organic waste, like bread crusts, into bioplastics that can replace traditional plastics in food and medical packaging, or medical-grade sutures for surgery. |