Lean Orb is a Miami-based compostable foodservice packaging company that is transforming the disposable food packaging culture in the hospitality sector and beyond. Their team designs and distributes alternatives to single-use plastic tableware and catering supplies.
They offer solutions to restaurants, hotels, corporate headquarters, music festivals, schools, and other venues where disposable items are used. The company is committed to producing responsible packaging which will take us a step closer to a society where financial, ecological and social innovation co-exists without compromising the resources of future generations. Team’s core mission is providing immediate quantifiable solutions to the problem of plastic waste.
Since its launch in 2017 by the founder and CEO Anastasia Mikhalochkina, Lean Orb has been able to design a complete portfolio of products based on various fiber technologies. The company’s headquarters is currently at the Cambridge Innovation Center which is a known hub for many cutting-edge start-ups. In 2019, the company was recognized by multiple media channels, like NBC and the Miami Herald, after becoming one of the finalists at Babson College’s accelerator WIN Lab, which stands for Women Innovating Now.
When building products, the team is committed to converting highly renewable and recycled fibers. Additionally, all products have an upside to the end-of-life challenges by being compostable.
Unfortunately, almost all single-use food packaging we have ever used around the world, still exists somewhere. Plastic items like disposable cups, straws, plates, and containers end up in trash sites as well as in rivers and oceans around the world. With the foodservice industry discarding close to 180 billion plastic disposables, the problem Lean Orb is solving for their customers is referred by local governments as the global environmental crisis.
There is an presumed convenience to plastic packaging, but as we’ve all learned, these products have had an unintended consequence. While Lean Orb’s expertise is in product development, the team’s ambitious goals for environmental progress goes beyond sustainable product solutions. Much of the team’s attention is focusing on raising awareness and educating the corporate sector on the responsible reduction of overall packaging waste.
Miami is a waterfront community, the waste we fail to keep onshore not only becomes a local problem, but also a global problem. As a community, we understand that single-use toxic materials should be obsolete and the company is currently facing significant growth based on the corporate demand for solutions. The diversity of products they offer has allowed the company to work with a variety of clients such as the Four Seasons, The W Hotel, Cambridge Innovation Center, Carrolton School and large music festivals such as Ultra who are taking the environmental initiative to phase out plastic disposables from operations.
Closing the loop of waste is a challenge but these products are designed to inspire policymakers to build more industrial composting sites for the public and private sector in order to promote responsible consumption of packaging.
