European Enterprise Award 2020

EU BUSINESS NEWS / 2020 European Enterprise Awards 25 , Most Eco-Friendly Children's Products Company 2020 Since its first products debuted on the market in 2016, eKoala has been cementing itself as a household name in biodegradable children’s products. Although it has seenmassive success in its home country and the EU, this company’s push for revolution isn’t over yet. Nov20350 Founded in Italy in 2013 by brother and sister duo Daniele and Beatrice Radaelli, eKoala was inspired by its founders’ individual experiences with parenthood. It designs, creates, and produces sustainable children’s toys and crockery all made with 100% biodegradable bioplastic, creating a non-toxic and aesthetically appealing alternative to traditional plastic domestic products. By doing this, it seeks to create a world in which children’s products are no longer such a threat to the environment, replacing traditional plastics that linger for decades in landfills with products that harmlessly degrade in a much shorter time frame. ‘That’s the magic of bioplastic’, Beatrice told us. Considering about eight million tonnes of plastic escape into the ocean every year, and half of all plastics manufactured have been made in the last couple of decades, the work of companies like eKoala is only becoming more and more pivotal. It has reached over 300 shops in Italy and has distributors in Switzerland, Finland, Taiwan and Germany. It found itself to be utterly unique in the mass market of children’s products, with no competitors in Italy and very few abroad. Alongside this, it finds its attitude to its products to also be extremely singular. It prides itself on research, development, and its continued dedication to finding better solutions to make its products only more environmentally conscious. Furthermore, it is forever improving on every aspect of its production process. The packaging that eKoala uses is all unbleached and untreated cardboard and it ensures that none of it is plastic coated. It also goes as far as using its own developed insertion method to seal the products into the packaging, negating the need for glue, metal staples, or other non-recyclable packaging elements. Many nations, more now than ever, are realising the need for a more sustainable world. This is clear in big movements such as President Joe Biden joining the Paris Agreement after the USA initially refused in 2015. The EU is also now bringing its attention back to the plastic issue – from 2021 in Europe, there will be an absolute ban on plastic disposable items. This to eKoala is a great start, but still just a start, as it is looking to push the use of bioplastics in all sectors of industry. This ethos “We believe it is high time to start building a world for our children that truly is a Wonderland” - Beatrice Radaelli, eKoala has only strengthened during the pandemic. With the globe having to adapt to a new status quo, eKoala believes that the worldwide community should be using the opportunity to change its attitude towards the environment too. Being an EU based company, eKoala has been keeping at the forefront of the trade bloc’s environmental acts and movements as well as ensuring that their products fall in line with EU laws concerning product safety. Overall, it believes the EU to be one of the greatest voices for environmentalism, in both sustainability and green economy issues. Furthermore, being based in Italy has meant that it can benefit from the prestige that comes with a ‘made in Italy’ label. In its products it seeks to emulate this with the colours and shapes they create, proudly displaying the culture of its founders through its inventions. At eKoala, it believes firmly that teamwork is at the heart of what it does, with all members being environmentally conscious, creative, and open-minded people. The founders are looking forward to seeing where such a team can take the eKoala enterprise, with plans to move towards even more innovations in biodegradable materials and production. It plans to make bioplastic the standard across a whole range of products, and to promote the material to the entire corporate world as the solution of the future. Company: eKoala Contact: Beatrice Radaelli Website: www.ekoala.eu