Obeo is an Irish company based in Dublin founded by Kate Cronin, an industrial designer, and Liz Fingleton, an accountant.
The idea for Obeo originated from Kate’s research into design sustainability that focused on the negative effects of food waste in landfill. The lack of participation in food waste recycling frustrated her so she challenged herself to come up with a better solution. First she set about understanding why the organic bin service was so badly underutilised.
“It came down to what I now refer to as the ‘yuck’ factors, flies, smells and bin juice. I thought if I could solve the problems people were experiencing in their kitchens it would go a long way towards encouraging people to recycle their food waste.”
The solution was Obeo, a compostable food waste box that allows for the quick, clean collection of food waste. Obeo sits conveniently on the counter top where it gets filled with food waste. When full, Obeo along with its contents goes directly into the outdoor organic bin and a new unit is opened. The result is no mess to clean in the kitchen and a fresher organic bin.
Liz instantly believed in Kate’s concept and knew she could help turn the idea into a successful business. She’s passionate about the positive impact Obeo can make on user behaviour and in turn on the environment.
Kate and Liz are now working on developing a suite of products all catered towards helping people to waste less and recycle more in a convenient way.