For a world where plant residues are not wasted but understood as a valuable resource
We are an interdisciplinary team. Building on our diverse expertise, we work on solutions for meaningful utilisation of pineapple plants. What unites us is an environmentally conscious mindset and the motivation to create meaningful impact. Together, we believe in a more sustainable future and want to contribute to this movement with our idea.
Our values:
Impact-oriented, responsible, agile, transparent and equitable
Susan
Business Development LATAM
(Parental leave)
Aaron
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Sandra
working student
Social Media and Marketing
External consultant
Supply Chain Management
We are an interdisciplinary team. Building on our diverse expertise, we work on solutions for meaningful utilisation of pineapple plants. What unites us is an environmentally conscious mindset and the motivation to create meaningful impact. Together, we believe in a more sustainable future and want to contribute to this movement with our idea.
Our values:
working student
Social Media and Marketing
Alexander
Sandra
working student
Social Media and Marketing
turning waste into purpose
The Founding
With eco:fibr, we aim to create new value chains and extend existing ones. Everything we do is guided by the three pillars of sustainability.
eco:fibr GmbH was founded in 2022 by Merit Ulmer-Kasak, Julian Kolbeck, and Michelle Spitzer. We met during our studies and came together through the student initiative Enactus e.V., united by our shared ambition to make a meaningful impact.
Before founding the company, we built eco:fibr alongside our studies together with Niklas Tegtmeier and other volunteers.
The Beginning
A documentary about the annual disposal of thousands of tonnes of bananas that did not meet export standards inspired a professor at Leibniz University Hannover in 2017 to approach Enactus Hannover in search of a solution. Among those who took on the challenge were Niklas and Merit. Their original idea was to extract cellulose from banana peels and use it to produce textiles. Less than a year later, they travelled to Costa Rica for the first time to explore the concept.
After visiting a banana plantation and speaking with local farmers, it quickly became clear that banana waste was already being managed effectively. Instead, the farmers were facing a different challenge alltogether: the large amounts of pineapple plant residues left behind after harvest.