STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — The phade® brand of PHA-based straws manufactured by New WinCup Holdings, Inc. has been recognized out of a pool of more than 4,000 global entries by Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards as a finalist in the Consumer Products and Enduring Impact categories and as an honorable mention in the World Changing Ideas -North America and General Excellence categories.
The phade® straw is the first mass produced marine biodegradable and home and industrial compostable drinking straw made with PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate), a substrate derived from fermented canola oil. Recognized for its extraordinary ability to quickly biodegrade in marine, home and industrial composting environments, the phade® straw maintains the feel and user experience of a traditional plastic straw.
Now in its fifth year, a panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists for the 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards across a number of categories, including transportation, education, food, politics, & technology sectors. phade® was recognized in the following World changing ideas categories:
- In the Consumer Products category, phade® was named a Finalist alongside Adidas & Gerber and the category winner was Levis Strauss for developing new jeans out of old jeans.
- In the Enduring Impact category, phade® was a named a Finalist alongside Samsung & First Solar and the category winner was City of Oakland for its use of turning cooking oil into renewable energy for its buses and trucks.
- In the Best World Changing Ideas category, phade® received Honorable Mention alongside Google Maps & Amazon and the category winner was Air Company for developing carbon negative vodka that comes from captured CO2.
- In the General Excellence category, phade® received Honorable Mention alongside Procter & Gamble & Nike and the category winner was Microsoft Premonition which designed a system to track diseases via mosquito blood.
“We are thrilled to be included among such a strong lineup of innovative brands in Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards,” said WinCup Chief Executive Officer Brad Laporte. “We’re even more excited to be the only drinking straw to be featured on this year’s list. Our greatest mission is to use innovation to create sustainable solutions to address global plastic pollution, and so it’s extraordinarily rewarding to be recognized for the work we’ve done with phade®.”
The key to phade® is PHA, which is used as a food source by bacteria that breaks down the phade® straw in a matter of months instead of hundreds of years like petroleum-based straws. WinCup has long been manufacturing foodservice products and has the infrastructure in place to scale phade® in a way that make sense economically.
“There is no question our society and planet are facing deeply troubling times. So, it’s important to recognize organizations that are using their ingenuity, impact, design, scalability, and passion to solve these problems,” says Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “Our journalists, under the leadership of senior editor Morgan Clendaniel, have discovered some of the most groundbreaking projects that have launched since the start of 2020.”
“As demand increases for viable alternatives to traditional, petroleum based plastic products, we are working incredibly hard to alter our entire business model to create more sustainable solutions,” said Michael Winters, WinCup’s President and Chief Revenue Officer. “Through phade®, we are excited to show the world the innovation that is possible with bio-plastics technology one straw at a time.”
Winters went on to say, “The development of phade® involved a rigorous testing and certification process.” TUV AUSTRIA, a globally recognized independent third-party certifying body, determined that phade® will biodegrade in a marine or soil environment and compost in both industrial and backyard settings in a matter of months. The Biodegradable Products Institute, Inc. (BPI) has also verified that phade® is compostable in an industrial environment. phade® also complies with the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) food contact safety regulations for both cold and hot drinks.
The Fast Company recognition is just the latest of several awards WinCup has won for the development of phade®, including the 2021 Innovation in FoodService Award for Sustainability Solutions from the National Restaurant Association and SmartBrief, and the 2020 Innovation in Bioplastics Award from the Bioplastics Division of PLASTICS (The Plastics Industry Association).
WinCup’s focus on sustainable solutions was bolstered in September 2020 when Los Angeles-based private equity firm Atar Capital acquired the company. Among Atar’s core principles is a commitment to sustainability and investing in companies that work toward protecting the environment.
The list of this year’s winners will be featured in the Fast Company’s Summer 2021 issue (on newsstands May 10) and is available online here.
About WinCup, Inc.
WinCup, Inc. which is headquartered in Stone Mountain, Georgia, has recently been acquired by Atar Capital, a Los Angeles based global private equity investment firm. WinCup is a leading manufacturer of traditional and sustainable disposable cups, bowls, containers, lids, and straws. The company’s eight manufacturing locations are committed to high-quality products and superior customer service. To learn more, please visit www.wincup.com and www.phadeproducts.com.
About the World Changing Ideas Awards
World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.
