Vegware

Vegware is a Scotland-based manufacturer and supplier of plant-based and compostable catering disposables. Founded by Joe Frankel in Edinburgh in 2006, the company developed around the idea that food-service packaging could be made from renewable, lower-carbon, reclaimed, or recycled inputs and managed through commercial composting alongside food waste. Its range is aimed primarily at cafés, restaurants, caterers, institutions, events, hospitality businesses, and other food-service operators seeking alternatives to conventional petroleum-based or difficult-to-recycle disposable packaging. The company’s product portfolio includes hot and cold food containers, takeaway packaging, cups, lids, cutlery, plates, bowls, bags, and related service items. Vegware presents these products as part of a wider system rather than as isolated material substitutions: packaging is intended to be used where suitable collection and commercial composting infrastructure exists, and the company has worked with waste-sector partners to improve the practical end-of-life route. Where an appropriate composting service is unavailable, the company’s guidance is that used items should enter general waste rather than an unsuitable recycling stream. Vegware expanded from its Edinburgh origins into an international distribution business. The company has stated that its products are sold in more than 70 countries and that it maintains bases or operations in the European Union, the United States, Hong Kong, and Australia. Its United States headquarters was established in Huntington Beach, California, in June 2016. This location was significant to the company’s story because Frankel had first conceived the Vegware idea in the United States before developing the business in Scotland. A defining part of Vegware’s business model is its work with waste operators and composting infrastructure. Its UK and US environmental teams have worked with waste-sector organizations to develop collections for used compostable packaging. In the United Kingdom, the company launched its Close the Loop composting collection service in Scotland and partnered with First Mile from 2019 on the Vegware RecycleBox, a courier-based return service for used packaging. In 2020, Vegware introduced a larger-scale compostables collection service, which was cited by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation as an example of upstream innovation in packaging. In 2021, Paper Round installed a sorting line for compostables intended to increase collection capacity and improve the quality of material sent for composting. The brand’s development has been accompanied by recognition for innovation, export growth, and environmental initiatives. It received the Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2016, won an Innovations in Packaging award at the 2018 Footprint Awards, and was shortlisted in 2019 for the Best of VIBES recognition associated with the Scottish Environment Business Awards. It was also identified in 2020 as Scotland’s fourth-fastest-growing private company in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100, based on its reported sales growth over the preceding three years. In 2021, it was ranked Scotland’s fastest-growing exporter and 27th in the United Kingdom in the Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200. Vegware therefore occupies a position at the intersection of food-service packaging, materials innovation, and the development of composting and collection systems.

Vegware was founded by Joe Frankel in Edinburgh in 2006. The company emerged from the proposition that disposable food-service packaging could use plant-based and other lower-impact materials while remaining suitable for the operational demands of cafés, catering businesses, hospitality venues, institutions, and events. Frankel had first developed the idea for the business in the United States, but Vegware was established in Scotland and built its principal identity there. The company’s early and subsequent growth centered on compostable catering disposables. Rather than limiting its offer to a single material or product, Vegware developed a broad range of packaging and serving products made using renewable, lower-carbon, reclaimed, or recycled materials. These products were designed for commercial composting with food waste where the relevant infrastructure accepts them. This qualification became important to the company’s operating model: compostable packaging requires appropriate collection and processing, and it is not automatically recyclable through conventional household recycling systems. Vegware has therefore emphasized the need to match product disposal with locally available waste services. Vegware expanded internationally through distribution and regional operating bases. Its products became available in more than 70 countries, while the company developed bases in the European Union, the United States, Hong Kong, and Australia. In June 2016, it established its United States headquarters in Huntington Beach, California. The US base connected the international business with the place where Frankel had originally conceived the idea for Vegware and provided a platform for serving North American customers. The company increasingly worked beyond product manufacture and distribution by engaging with the waste sector. Vegware’s environmental teams in the United Kingdom and United States supported trade-waste collection initiatives for used compostable products. In Scotland, the company operated its Close the Loop composting collection service. It also partnered with First Mile from 2019 to offer the Vegware RecycleBox, a UK-wide courier-led returns system for used Vegware packaging. These initiatives sought to address one of the central practical challenges facing compostable packaging: ensuring that products reach an appropriate composting facility rather than being discarded through an unsuitable recycling stream. In 2020, Vegware launched what was described as the first large-scale compostables collection service of its kind, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation highlighted the initiative as an example of upstream innovation in packaging. In 2021, Paper Round installed the United Kingdom’s first sorting line for compostables, with the objective of increasing the amount of material that could be collected and improving the quality of feedstock sent to composting. Vegware’s collection and composting approach was also applied in a range of international settings, including a forestry event in Belgium, a festival in Hungary, a carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, and district government gardens in Estonia. Recognition accompanied the company’s expansion. Vegware received the Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2016. Its Green Leaf band design and associated product range won the Innovations in Packaging award at the 2018 Footprint Awards. In 2019, the company was one of ten businesses shortlisted for Best of VIBES, a Scottish environmental business recognition, for the Close the Loop scheme. Its reported turnover for the twelve months ending January 2019 was £32.2 million. In 2020, it was identified as Scotland’s fourth-fastest-growing private company in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100, which measured a reported 44.58% annual sales rise over three years. In 2021, the company was ranked Scotland’s fastest-growing exporter and 27th in the United Kingdom in the Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200. Vegware’s history is consequently defined by two linked developments: the scaling of a specialist compostable food-service packaging range and the construction of collection and composting relationships intended to make the products’ environmental claims operationally meaningful. Its business remains focused on plant-based and compostable catering disposables and on international distribution supported by environmental and waste-sector programs.

• 2021

  Compostables sorting infrastructure expands

  [1]Vegwareen.wikipedia.org

  Paper Round installed the UK's first sorting line for compostables to increase collection capacity and improve output quality.

• 2021

  International export growth recognition

  [1]Vegwareen.wikipedia.org

  Vegware was ranked Scotland's fastest-growing exporter and 27th in the UK in the Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200.

• 2020

  Large-scale compostables collection service launches

  [1]Vegwareen.wikipedia.org

  Vegware launched a large-scale collection service for compostable packaging, working with waste-sector organizations.

• 2020

  Fast Track 100 recognition

  [1]Vegwareen.wikipedia.org

  Vegware was ranked Scotland's fourth-fastest-growing private company in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100.

• 2019

  First Mile partnership

  [1]Vegwareen.wikipedia.org

  Vegware partnered with First Mile to provide the Vegware RecycleBox, a UK-wide courier-led returns service for used packaging.

• 2019

  Close the Loop shortlisted for environmental award

  [1]Vegwareen.wikipedia.org

  Vegware was shortlisted for Best of VIBES in connection with its Close the Loop composting collection scheme in Scotland.

• 2018

  Footprint Awards packaging innovation recognition

  [1]Vegwareen.wikipedia.org

  Vegware won the Innovations in Packaging award at the Footprint Awards for its Green Leaf band design and product range.

• 2016

  United States headquarters opens

  [1]Vegwareen.wikipedia.org

  Vegware established its US headquarters in Huntington Beach, California, broadening its international operating footprint.

• 2016

  Queen's Award for Innovation

  [1]Vegwareen.wikipedia.org

  The company received the Queen's Award for Innovation.

• 2006

  Vegware is founded in Edinburgh

  [1]Vegwareen.wikipedia.org

  Joe Frankel founded Vegware in Edinburgh as a business focused on plant-based and compostable food-service disposables.

A sustainability-focused food-service packaging brand offering plant-based and compostable disposable products together with collection, sorting, and composting initiatives intended to help customers manage packaging after use.

• Food-service packaging

  Compostable food containers

  Vegware produces plant-based and compostable containers for takeaway and prepared foods. The range is intended for commercial food-service use and is designed to be processed with food waste where a suitable commercial composting service accepts the relevant materials. Products may use renewable, reclaimed, recycled, or lower-carbon inputs, depending on the item.

• Beverage packaging

  Cups and lids

  The brand supplies disposable cups and matching lids for hot and cold beverages in cafés, catering, events, and institutional food service. These products form part of Vegware’s broader compostable packaging system and are intended to follow the same locally dependent collection and commercial composting route where available.

• Catering disposables

  Plates, bowls, and cutlery

  Vegware offers disposable tableware and serving items, including plates, bowls, and cutlery. These products extend the company’s material approach beyond packaging for takeaway food and support catering, hospitality, events, and other settings where reusable serviceware may not be used.

• Packaging collection service · 2019

  Vegware RecycleBox

  The Vegware RecycleBox is a UK-wide courier-led returns service developed with First Mile. It provides a route for customers to send used Vegware packaging into an organized collection process, helping address the infrastructure gap between the use of compostable products and their treatment after disposal.

• Composting collection service

  Close the Loop

  Close the Loop is Vegware’s composting collection initiative in Scotland. It connects used compostable food-service packaging with food-waste collection and composting arrangements where accepted, reflecting the company’s effort to provide an end-of-life system alongside its packaging products.

• 2020Close the Loop compostables collection

  United Kingdom · Scotland

  Vegware worked with the waste sector to develop a large-scale collection service for used compostable packaging and food waste, complementing its product business with an end-of-life management initiative.

  Outcome. The initiative was highlighted by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation as an example of upstream innovation for packaging.

  Source
• 2018Zero-waste plan for Airports Going Green

  United States

  For the 2018 Annual Airports Going Green conference, Vegware worked with food-waste, recycling, and food-donation partners to develop a zero-waste event plan.

  Outcome. The plan combined composting, recycling, and food donation partners to support waste diversion at the conference.

  Source
• International composting event programs

  Belgium · Hungary · Trinidad and Tobago · Estonia

  Vegware packaging was used in composting and waste-management programs associated with a forestry event in Belgium, a festival in Hungary, a carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, and district governmental gardens in Estonia.

  Outcome. The reported examples demonstrated the use of local collection and composting arrangements in varied international event and public-sector settings.

  Source

• 2020

  Scale-up of compostables collectionStrategy

  Background

  The environmental proposition of compostable packaging depends on collection and commercial composting capacity.

  Action taken

  Vegware launched a large-scale compostables collection service with waste-sector partners.

  Aftermath

  The Ellen MacArthur Foundation cited the initiative as an example of upstream packaging innovation.

  Source

• 2019

  Partnership for used-packaging returnsStrategy

  Background

  Compostable packaging requires suitable collection and processing infrastructure, which is not available through every conventional recycling service.

  Action taken

  Vegware partnered with First Mile to offer the Vegware RecycleBox courier-led returns service in the United Kingdom.

  Aftermath

  The partnership created an organized route for returning used Vegware packaging for further handling.

  Source

• 2016

  Establishment of a United States headquartersStrategy

  Background

  Vegware was expanding beyond its Scottish base and needed a regional platform for the North American market.

  Action taken

  The company established its United States headquarters in Huntington Beach, California.

  Aftermath

  The move broadened Vegware's international operating footprint and returned the business to the location associated with the founder's original idea for the company.

  Source

• Unconfirmed

  Reported2021.08.09

  Novolex acquires Vegware[3]Novolex收购Vegwareprnewswire.com

  Novolex acquired Vegware, an international provider of compostable foodservice packaging. The Vegware brand will remain intact as part of Novolex's Eco-Products portfolio.

Read more

1. 1Vegwareen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Vegware official websitevegware.com
3. 3Novolex收购Vegwareprnewswire.com