Cirkula: the innovative app tackling food waste in Peru

Peru is celebrated worldwide for its rich gastronomy, yet it faces significant issues with food waste. Across Latin America—and in particular Peru—food surplus is often wasted across households and businesses, contributing significantly to methane emissions, which are of higher potency than CO₂ (carbon dioxide). 127 million tons of food is wasted annually in Latin America and 12.8 million tons in Peru alone.

“Our gastronomy, fresh foods, and vibrant markets are a vital part of our culture and economy, but the environmental impact of food waste is enormous.”

Cirkula, an innovative start-up tackling food waste, is spotlighting the potential of climate tech in solving one of the world's most pressing environmental challenges. Michelle Gomberoff, Cirkula Co-Founder and CEO, decided to tackle the issue of food waste in her country by creating an app-based platform that supports businesses in managing surplus food transparently.

The app allows restaurants and retailers to sell surplus food directly to consumers at discounted prices. The business model is simple, profitable, and efficient for consumers and businesses, with payment, delivery, and pick-up handled in-app. The app helps reduce waste and tracks and reports on CO₂ and financial savings, creating awareness of the impact and incentive for other small businesses to do the same.

Cirkula demonstrates the potential of innovative solutions in addressing critical climate challenges by combining environmental impact with economic benefits. To date, the app has rescued 45,000kg of food, reduced 100,000 kilograms of CO₂ emissions, and saved USD 300,000.

“Our goal is to reduce 4 million kg of food waste and 9 million kg of CO₂ emissions in the next 5 years”

While the app's success is significant, Michelle shares the challenges she faced in developing the app. She notes the importance of educating consumers, who value fresh foods, about the fact that rescued food is cheaper yet high-quality while promoting the economic benefits of reducing food waste.

Michelle's journey into climate tech began with overcoming initial apprehension: "At first, it was intimidating because climate tech often involves science and STEM backgrounds. However, seeing other people with business and non-scientific backgrounds in the field, especially women, motivated me." Her background in business rather than science showcases the power of the private sector in building impactful climate solutions.

A catalyst for change

As a promising climate tech start-up, Cirkula received support from CATAL1.5°T (pronounced "catalyst"), a USD 40 million initiative financed by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

The CATALI.5°T initiative supports climate start-ups and young businesses with the highest climate mitigation impact and business growth potential in Latin America and West Africa. The initiative offers various programmes to help start-ups, particularly women-led start-ups, access venture capital more easily.

CATALI.5°T supported Cirkula's business approach, making the business more competitive and better positioned for fundraising in a challenging business landscape. Participating in the CATAL1.5°T accelerator programme has been a transformative experience for Cirkula, providing essential funding, insights, mentorship, and resources to integrate sustainability into every aspect of their business.

“The combination of mentoring, funding, and tools provided by CATAL1.5°T is significant. This collaboration has not only helped us in our growth phase to get to the next round but hopefully will also raise more environmental awareness and inspire other entrepreneurs, programmes, and investors in our region.”

The accelerator programme has provided the tools and mentorship needed to refine Cirkula's expanding operations. "CATAL1.5°T professionalised our ESG processes, helping us follow guidelines better and formalise our impact measurements," Michelle explains. 

"Programmes like CATAL1.5°T provide the tools, awareness, and support necessary for growth. Being surrounded by other people who work on helping the planet really encourages you to do something bigger, to know that you're on the right path to significant change and not doing this alone. It creates a synergy between start-ups from different sectors as well," Michelle notes. 

Looking ahead

As Cirkula prepares for expansion into Bolivia and beyond, networking and mentorship remain crucial.  The CATAL1.5°T accelerator programme continues to support Cirkula's mission to transform Peru's food sector for good.

The CATAL1.5°T Initiative is funded by the international Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in cooperation with EIT Climate-KIC, Tecnológico de Monterrey, and Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P).

Story originally published by CATAL1.5°T. Edited by Zeenia Dastur, GCF