Eco-Entrepreneurship: Powered by Moxie

Powered by Moxie is an Eco-Entrepreneurship Project that analyzes the environmental impacts of different types of grocery and snack packaging and offers a solution to reduce packaging waste by using reusable packaging. Powered by Moxie delivers farmer’s market produce and snacks to corporate offices as a supplemental employee benefit program. The team developed a business model that successfully utilizes reusable packaging, based on 165 interviews of potential customers and industry experts and market research of current reduce and reuse systems that work with food. To determine if reusable packaging is environmentally beneficial, the group analyzed the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) literature to quantify the environmental impacts of different grocery bags and snack packages. The team found that environmental benefits of reusable packaging were dependent on the material used to make the reusable packaging and that recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polyester bags have the least harmful environmental impacts for reusable bag materials. Powered by Moxie also determined that delivering to corporate offices reduces last-mile delivery cost by servicing multiple customers at one location. Furthermore, offering Powered by Moxie as a supplemental benefit program creates value to employers by providing healthier food for their employees, and value to employees by offering a convenient grocery and snack delivery service. The project recognizes the convenience of single-use plastic packaging and that changing people’s habits is difficult. However, by creating a convenient service that provides reusable packaging, Powered by Moxie can make low waste living more accessible to people looking to reduce waste in their day-to-day lives.