Vrsac-based startup develops ecological styrofoam replacement thanks to Pramenka sheep – Product in demand from America to Emirates

Nearly five years before the coronavirus outbreak, during which, as we all know, the sale of local products made by small food producers experienced a boom, a small startup from Vrsac, led by an innovator, agricultural engineer and agri-economist, started selling domestic products through the Zelenoo.com website. There was no Wolt or Glovo back then, and fast package delivery was not as developed, so the creators of this concept delivered the products by themselves, mostly from Vojvodina and Central Serbia. They had 600 users and agreements with over 40 farms.

About the first startup Zelenoo.com

Although all this was certainly challenging for the Zelenoo team, perhaps this concept would still be available today and perhaps they would be much more popular if they hadn’t turned one of the “flaws” of their activities up till then into a business in the meantime. Nikica Marinkovic, founder and director of the startup Woolapack, explains for eKapija what exactly happened and how.

– Considering that, at the time, we delivered products to our customers through the Zelenoo.com website in styrofoam boxes, which were mostly used for the purpose at the time, one customer once said to me: “Your idea about food delivery is great, but don’t deliver food to us in styrofoam boxes anymore. You know they are cancerous at high temperatures, they are not ecological, they enter the food chain easily…” – Nikica begins his story about this startup in the interview for eKapija.

So, Nikica had to come up with an ecological alternative. And before he started looking into that field, he remembered the research that he had taken part in as a student of the Faculty of Agriculture, where it was found that, in our region, wool from the Pramenka sheep was mostly discarded as it was of lower quality and, as such, not suitable for the textile industry. Several years later, the wool was the main “ingredient” of the idea thanks to which Nikica, together with the team he was part of, won an award at the startup contest organized by the Swedish Institute (Smart Living Challenge).

“Great idea, but don’t put food in styrofoam boxes”

– That was some ten years ago. When I got that comment from our customer regarding styrofoam, I realized that the development of this wool-based product was something that deserved more attention and had more potential than our first food delivery startup. I realized that this product could make a global impact. Wool is a natural material, it can be recycled, it is a great insulator and, at the time, that idea had a bigger potential for becoming a real startup. So, I made pads from wool in water-proof paper, which we would put into cardboard boxes. And we tested this on Zelenoo.com. It turned out to be a good idea and I realized that we had to put that food delivery site to aside a bit, while placing focus on this ecological wool packaging – says Nikica.

Before founding the startup Woolapack, Nikica participated with a partner in the Expo 2020 contest with a wooden box with wool paddings, where they won the award as a global innovator, for which they got USD 100,000. Unfortunately, the partnership with this cofounder did not last, so Nikica founded Woolapack himself, but with packaging made from wool paddings inserted in cardboard boxes. At the prestigious contest of the Global Entrepreneurship Network in Riyadh in 2023, among the 30,000 startups from 53 countries that had applied, he placed in the top 40 with this product.

“No more styrofoam”

Maybe this idea, like many innovative ideas in these areas, would not have been able to develop into a serious, world-recognized business if Nikica hadn’t launched a campaign on social networks back in 2018, called “No more styrofoam”. That idea got such a good response from the world public, that even American portals reported about this product. Considering that, annually, around 2.3 billion kilograms of styrofoam ends up in our landfills and waterways, that 90,000 workers are exposed to styrene each year, causing various health problems, that American citizens throw away 25 trillion styrofoam cups every year, this kind of a styrofoam replacement certainly caused a great interest in the global public. And that’s where the door opened wide for this startup from Vrsac…

Today, Woolapack plans to open a branch office precisely in America, and in addition to this country, they are also contacted by smaller customers from the Emirates, Austria, Poland, Romania…

– At the time of the coronavirus, we had the most orders from Austria, because, at the time, they delivered food to the customers in those boxes. It was truly a challenge for us to make it work at the time – due to the borders being closed, but we managed somehow. After the coronavirus, smaller companies from central and eastern Europe which produce domestic food and natural cosmetics started contacting us because their customers have a different awareness of the whole purchase chain – says Nikica.

Interest growing among wine and cheese producers

Although the boxes with wool padding are 10-15% more expensive than styrofoam ones, which are expected to be banned on a global level, producers from Serbia are beginning to get interested in these boxes as well. It’s nothing unusual. Many other startups first achieved success abroad, and then became known locally.

– The organizers of wine festivals in Serbia, who want to be able to store wine in a natural way at those events, when the temperatures are high, have become interested in our boxes. A wine temperature of around 10 degrees Celsius is maintained in those boxes. Also, we have been contacted by cheese producers, and we all know, if we go back in history a bit, that foodstuffs used to be put into woolen bags and that travelers carried them that way – adds Nikica.

Recycled wool used in other products

He says that he gets the wool for his innovative boxes in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, as he says, he takes great care for the wool from the boxes to be able to be recycled after around fifty uses. The women who work in associations turning recycled wool into mobile phone paddings, or spinning the wool for knitting and so on, are in charge of this.

Considering that there is an interest in it and that the innovation has also received an acknowledgment, it only remains for Woolapack to find a home, but also increase its production, so as to meet the demands of big buyers from America. To clarify, Woolapack launched its operation at the Technology Park in Belgrade, and then in the Technology Park in Vrsac, and now they plan to have a facility under a single roof in Novi Sad or Vrsac.

– We are trying to secure investments for it, and if we manage to do so, we will be able to raise the production from 1,000 pieces of packaging a week to 5,000 a day – points out Nikica.

He took out a cash loan for his first startup, Zelenoo, and for his second one, he spent the money he had planned to use to buy an apartment. This next step, obviously, will require more than “a little help from his friends.”

Danijela Stanimirovic-Gavrilov