4 Green Berlin Startups that Change the World

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Berliners love it green, not only when they go shopping, but also at the workplace! So it was time for us to have a look around for the most innovative, green ideas in the capital. For this we teamed up with GASAG Berlin who are amidst their new campaign for their climate-neutral “Strom Fix” electricity produced with 100% renewable energies. Just like us they like the idea of Berlin getting greener and greener each year thanks to all the pioneers of sustainability out there.

But now let us introduce you to four young start-ups and projects that are not only eco-conscious and fair-trade, but are also fun and look good!

einhorn

Let’s just say einhorn is Berlin’s funniest and most colorful start-up! The young company has not only made a name of itself with crazy, fair-trade, vegan rubber products but also with their progressive corporate culture. From Pinatas in the office, a holiday house in the countryside to freely negotiable wages. einhorn is definitely a role model for modern corporate management.

But first of all, it’s all about einhorn’s products: Vegan, environmentally-friendly condoms in a unique design. And, if you aren’t convinced or satisfied, you can easily get in touch or recheck einhorn’s production. The team snaps, instagrams, blogs, and follows their products from the plantation to the shelf in your local grocery store, because “transparency is the beginning of sustainability,” says einhorn co-founder Philip Siefer in our interview.

If you want to know more about our visit to the crazy einhorn office in Kreuzberg, you can read the full interview here.

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Heldenmarkt

Since 2010 this market and trade show supports young companies with heroic – or rather honorable ambitions. Instead of promoting conventional, harmful consumerism, “Heldenmarkt” showcases a sustainable and viable alternative in a wide range of fields.

It’s a place for those of us who have realized that a lot of things in our past and present are harmful for the world and that change is necessary. As of now, the fair takes place regularly in many different German cities. Any company, start-up or idea can participate as long as they can verify that their goal is not money and profit but fairness, sustainability, and eco-friendliness.

You can get more heroic insights in our interview.

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Kaffeeform

When a funny bet and a lot of ingenuity become a successful start-up than something remarkable must have happened, for example producing cups made of – yes! – recycled coffee ground. At first, that might sound absurd, but this witty idea has transformed 50.000 portions of used coffee into 10.000 new cups, in Kreuzberg alone, non-breakable and dishwasher-safe. Wow.

However, the journey from that witty idea to the first coffee mug was not an easy one, and it took “a lot of caffeine-heavy experiments, clever recommendations by scientists and a big deal of pioneer spirit,” to create the first, functional “Kaffeeform” cup, says founder Julian Lechner. But cups ain’t enough, soon there’s gonna be a “Kaffeeform” screw-top to-go cup. So, we can all enjoy our coffee on-the-go while keeping a clear conscious.

How coffee grounds became a cup in the end: You can read the full story in our interview.

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soulbottles

Plastic bottles are shit! Many Berliners know that by now, avoiding plastic has become trendy. However, soulbottles founders Georg and Paul are true trendsetters of this movement. They have already been the ones drinking water out of old liquor bottles when they studied together at university. Which might have been an irritating view in their lecture hall at the time.

Still, this mad idea became a start-up success story. soulbottles’ 100% plastic-free drinking bottles have made it into your local Bio-Company, and many Berlin backpacks. The start-up proves that sustainability and an everyday usefulness can go hand in hand, and look cool. One Euro of every sold bottle goes into humanitarian projects. That way, the company has collected 330.000€ already and provided up to 25.000 people with clean drinking water in places of the world where it’s hard to get.

Wanna find out more about soulbottles? Click here.

We want to thank GASAG Berlin for the collaboration and all of the four start-ups for their time and the interesting conversations. We learned so much about sustainability, eco-friendly consumerism and fair trade that we feel totally encouraged to invest more time and thought into this. With all these passionate green entrepreneurs in Berlin we feel like we are looking into a bright future!

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<a href="https://www.iheartberlin.de/author/andy/" target="_self">Andy</a>

Andy

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