Zero-Waste Lifestyle with CatchUp BOX: Innovative App and Everyday Eco-Friendly Items

''After working on the Sustainable Development Goals for several years, I have shown great interest in how critical environmental problems in Georgia can be addressed in a simple, accessible and innovative way with community involvement. It was then that I came up with the idea of why you can not provide people with products that will improve their lifestyle, teach them to use their resources rationally and over time become a product that will make a worthy contribution to raising awareness,''-said Elene Evsia, Founder of CatchUp BOX in coversation with CBW.  

Initially, the CatchUp BOX was a box of eco-friendly items with a monthly subscription feature, and it had no innovation, which then founders later added as an app. They have refined the product over time and today it carries much more value and function.CatchUp BOX is a box of everyday eco-friendly items, with a monthly subscription function, which is a zero-waste philosophy-oriented start-up and helps extend the life cycle of resources. 

QR code on the box will open access to the application, which will have a built-in smart eco-calendar. It will send you daily simple, useful tips and information on using this or that ecological product and integrating it into your daily life to improve your quality of life. The authors of the idea want to encourage other green social enterprises in Georgia, to promote their products and that is why they plan to place them in CatchUp BOX. 

For those who don’t know, what’s the main goal of Catchup Box? 

Our product is a synergy of advanced and new technology because it represents the combination of the easily usable app which is connected to our Eco-friendly CatchUp Box and updates your daily calendar with notifications and tips. One of its main functions is to be a daily guide for society and give them valuable information about a sustainable lifestyle. The box can be received after proceeding with a monthly subscription and you can reach the app after becoming a subscriber. Technology which we use is simple, with the help of AI we gather data and generate it in a useful way to spread important information. Application is very simple to use and it helps you to adopt easy ways to become a sustainable citizen. 

Promoting sustainable development goals and developing them, appears to be the main goal. We analyze the complexity of the issues that SDG’s include and we really see the value of each of them. While you work on sustainable development and gain knowledge that is dependent on real-life examples you can see clearly the bonds between each development goal and the ways how it creates a chain of different aspects.

Today in the developing world it’s very important to be the one who can be realistic and do work that could make a real positive impact. Our presented project CatchUp BOX is an idea that could help society to adopt a sustainable lifestyle and integrate it into their everyday life with simple and easy steps. The main impact of the project must be to help people see how they can damage the environment with their unconsciously taken steps and how valuable they can be if they decide to integrate conscious actions for a better future. We will be happy to bring value to actions and make people more thoughtful about every step they make while touching the environment. We have to remember that none of us has permission to live and consume resources of the future generation. 

What’s the biggest challenge of starting an eco-friendly brand in a country that has an issue in this direction? 

Lack of information and irrational management of resources leads to environmental pollution, which leaves inevitable traces on people and nature. Water pollution is constantly increasing, which kills 8 million people every year. Georgia's critical environmental problems, irrational use of resources and lack of problem management tools make it necessary 

for our project to address the existing problems. Uncontrolled use of natural resources is not allowed. Responsibility for the environment is the duty of every citizen who strives for future sustainable development. 

We understand the complexity of the problems that our country faces and at the same time we are convinced that environmental issues are the most essential component for the future progress of any developed and developing country. Environmental and green initiatives in Georgia have been growing in recent years, which we are very happy about and believe that in order to eliminate the problems it is necessary to allow them to develop further. Of course, the implementation of green initiatives in Georgia is associated with very complex processes, because we do not have much experience, but we have the greatest potential and confidence that we can make a decent contribution to a better future. 

Who’s your team, run us through your work day. 

Our team is made up of people for whom environmental issues and each component of sustainable development are an integral part of everyday life. Our work day is mainly busy with research on various issues that help us improve and refine our existing product. At this stage we are participating in the available acceleration programs in Georgia and abroad, which is a necessary component for monitoring and developing the idea. The Georgian startup ecosystem, which is improving day by day, gives us the confidence that ideas can be implemented.

Who are your customers and how do you plan to reach out to more people? 

Our consumers are from different backgrounds and types, ones who buy it with an understanding of why, but also the ones who seek to gain knowledge and want to become more responsible for their actions and impact on the world. We plan to implement educational projects and communication with our customers to be constant. Our social media serves to advance the very values we promise our customers from the day they are created. 

What do you see for the future of Catchup Box? 

I think it is impossible to work on an idea and not see its future development. Of course CatchUp BOX is a green initiative with great potential for future development, within which we are going to implement a number of initiatives and projects. We want to take our product outside of Georgia and position ourselves as the first Georgian-like enterprise. We promise a lot of news and innovative initiatives to our customers in the future.