Awarded the highest global design awards Dieline Awards, D&AD, ADC, the Bee Loop packaging of Lithuanian beeswax is organic, recyclable, renewable, edible, self-degrading, anti-fungal, antiviral, antibacterial and antiseptic. Filled with 100% pure honey, the innovative container is fully sustainable, leaving no waste and ensuring the circle of nature continues.
National
Lithuania
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It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2021-03-01
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): Uzupis Art Incubator Type of organisation: Other public institution First name of representative: Janina Last name of representative: De Munck Gender: Female Nationality: Lithuania Function: Office Manager Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Krivių 12 Town: Vilnius Postal code: 01208 Country: Lithuania Direct Tel:+370 677 88218 E-mail:janina@umi.lt Website:https://www.umi.lt/
Name of the organisation(s): Bee Loop Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Aurimas Last name of representative: Kadzevicius Gender: Male Nationality: Lithuania Function: Director Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Kriviu 12 Town: Vilnius Postal code: 01208 Country: Lithuania Direct Tel:+37060164099 E-mail:beeloop@beeloop.lt Website:https://www.beeloop.lt/
Aurimas Kadzevičius‘ company „Bee Loop“ has created a closed-loop exchange system between bees and people by introducing a modern and sustainable wax packaging for honey. The overarching mission of the project was to help bees and contribute to the global sustainability process in restoring circularity in the beekeeping economy. The goal was to transform the honey value chain by creating a new method for packaging and transporting honey and recycling of packaging waste. The transformation led to building locally integrated and sustainable relationships between beekeepers, manufacturers, local retailers and consumers.
Aurimas‘s family comes from over 100 year tradition of beekeeping business. During this time, the situation of bees has changed dramatically around the world: swarms are increasingly threatened by growing environmental pollution. Increased consumption has led entrepreneurs to interfere and distort the relationship between beekeepers and bees. In the past, the honey was eaten with the honeycomb, and then the wax was melted down and given back to the bees, thus creating a friendly exchange. Later, with the rise of industry and the introduction of glass or plastic packaging, this practice has been distorted.
In the new value chain, the beekeeper spins out the honey and the wax used for the combs gives birth to the Bee Loop, the container in which the honey is placed. Once the honey has been consumed, the beeswax container is reused or returned to the apiary. The cycle is completed and a new one is started. In this way, the Bee Loop packaging combines philosophy of nature with sustainable economic practices. The beeswax packaging is organic, recyclable, renewable, edible, self-degrading, anti-fungal, antiviral, antibacterial and antiseptic. Filled with 100% pure Lithuanian honey, the innovative container is fully sustainable, leaving no waste and ensuring the circle of nature continues.
Transformation of the honey value chain
Sustainable packaging
Circular zero waste economy
Preservation of bio diversity; protection of bee populations
Innovative design
At the foundation of Bee Loop model is conservation of natural resources, preservation of natural ecosystems and fighting pollution. Pollinators like bees have an immense effect on the world’s crop production. They play an important part in ensuring biodiversity by pollinating plants and securing harvests. Bee populations have been increasingly threatened by growing environmental pollution and usage of harmful substances. So, in order to return to a more environmentally friendly relationship, to consume more consciously and responsibly, and to return to the centuries-old tradition of exchange, but with a more modern perspective, the idea of beeswax packaging was born. Beekeepers believe that honey stays best when it is kept in wax. If you can remove honey out of wax, you can put it back in. This principle is also as simple as returning the grain to the soil where it can grow again. In the exchange loop the wax is taken from the bees and returned to them thus ensuring no artificial wax substitutes enter the closed system. Beeswax packaging is organic, recyclable, renewable. The Bee Loop business model is grounded in economic sustainability. The closed loop exchange system ensures conscious and responsible consumption and safeguards against depletion of resources. It helps create a network of beekeepers, manufacturers, retailers, and final consumers around the world who support the ideas of sustainability. It helps restore balance in the long-term relations between different stakeholders in the honey value chain, thus ensuring social sustainability.
Aurimas’s family is from a small village in Lithuania and his father is a farmer and a beekeeper who tends to around 100 bee families. Connecting with the centuries old tradition of beekeeping practices echoes through the Bee Loop company’s practices. It brings consumers closer to their cultural heritage, forges connections to the local history and ecosystem. Aurimas developed the packaging for his father’s locally-grown honey by using wax from the same bees. The Bee Loop used just two ingredients to create the honey pot: organic beeswax and organic linen string used as the Bee Loop honey pot opener. The packaging idea was acknowledged by multiple international awards, including Dieline, D&AD, ADC, and other. It is not only remarkably eco-friendly, but also beautiful in its simplicity and aesthetically pleasing design. Honey kept in wax retains its best qualities and consumers can enjoy high quality, ecological and healthy products. Bee Loop believes that their packaging design can bring about meaningful change in the world, because they provide creatives with a roadmap as to how they can imagine beautiful products that don’t actively harm the environment by giving consumers another piece of packaging that they don’t actually need—such as a plastic bear-shaped container for honey, no matter how adorable that bear is. The Bee Loop is unique but can be replicated anywhere in the World with enough beekeepers and enthusiasts in the network to allow for honey to be enjoyed without harming the planet.
The Bee loop model depends on equal participation from all stakeholders in the system. - Everyone becomes a part of the change, as this way of consuming and packaging honey eliminates the need for artificial (plastic, glass) alternatives. The product is accessible to most consumers and affordable. Its further accessibility and affordability grow with the business expansion of the Bee Loop model. There is a further ambition to set up "bee loop" reverse vending machines in the near future so that people can return the honey pots and complete the loop in an organic way. Deposit-return system would encourage consumers to participate in closing the loop. Another important aspect is that the idea is not limited to Lithuania and can be adapted in any country that has beekeeping practices. Therefore, any country, from the most advanced to developing, can adopt the bee-loop model. The global spread of the bee loop is also directly linked to accessibility and affordability, as the more countries/cities offer honey in these containers with the possibility of returning the container, the more accessible the product becomes for everyone. This contributes to making global change, encouraging more sustainable consumer habits and building an environmentally friendly future.
Bee Loop creator Aurimas Kadzevičius comes from a beekeeper‘s family in a small village in Lithuania. Aurimas’s father is a farmer and a beekeeper who tends to around 100 bee families. Conversations with him gave birth to the Bee Loop idea. The Bee Loop project was primarily driven by the need to help bees and incorporate the best knowledge and practices that have been handed down through generations. Beekeepers know that honey and bees feel best when honey is stored in wax and when the loop is closed. Aurimas’s business has created a network of citizens starting with beekeepers and ending with final consumers, who have become avid supporters of a more sustainable honey value chain. Their involvement means there is more organic honey and pure wax; new habits are formed, and more conscious consumption emerges; everyone contributes to global change as this way of packaging honey and consumption eliminates the need for artificial (plastic, glass) alternatives. The Bee Loop community has been growing. The more consumers who support the bee loop, the better for humanity and the bees.
Aurimas Kadzevicius who is the author of the bee loop idea and its main shareholder created the prototype, the design, and the product. The main investor in the project is Japanese businessman T. Son, who understands this vision and helps to grow it. T. Son’s investment gave Aurimas the opportunity to complete the idea, present it to the world, and prove that the bee loop is not only important for a single person or a single country, but also critically important globally.
To develop the Bee Loop design and final product, Aurimas Kadzevičius brought together a team of creatives from the fields of sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, product and packaging design, project management, beekeeping, and business management. In collaboration, they were able to create a vision for a product that was sustainable, functional, and beautiful. Taking influence and a few tips from ceramic artists and sculptures, the team has settled on a minimal but modern design for the honey pot. Wanting to keep the pot label-free, Aurimas’ team used a hot stamp to brand the wax with the logo, keeping the packaging utterly uncomplicated and elegant. Business management knowledge helped develop the initial idea into a successful business starting with the sourcing of the honey, design and manufacturing of the packaging, retail scheme, marketing, and communications. As Bee Loop company sees it, this has been a joint venture by bees and people.
Bee loop packaging is remarkably eco-friendly, beautiful in its simplicity and aesthetically pleasing design. Honey kept in wax retains its best qualities and consumers can enjoy high quality, ecological and healthy products. Bee Loop has provided creatives with a roadmap as to how they can imagine beautiful products that don’t actively harm the environment. By changing the local honey value chain one honey pot at a time the Bee Loop helps contribute to the global sustainability process in restoring circularity in the beekeeping economy. The more consumers who support the bee loop, the better for humanity and the bees. Aurimas’s business has created a network of citizens starting with beekeepers and ending with final consumers, who have become avid supporters of a more sustainable honey value chain. Their involvement means there is more organic honey and pure wax; new habits are formed, and more conscious consumption emerges; everyone contributes to global change as this way of packaging honey and consumption eliminates the need for artificial (plastic, glass) alternatives. All this means more care for bees. Without bees, there would be no farming, no commerce, no end consumers, because there would simply be nothing to consume.
The project is innovative because of its simplistic and yet smart solution to make the honey value chain more sustainable and reduce overall pollution. Increased consumption of bee products has led entrepreneurs to interfere and distort the ages-old relationship between bees and humans. The mainstream practice in the beekeeping economy has become to extract as much of produce as possible; feed artificial wax substitutes to the bees; use glass and plastic containers to transport and store honey. All these practices have led to the rise of irresponsible consumption, strain on bee populations, and overall pollution. The Bee loop concept is built upon traditional time-tested practices that are environmentally sustainable. It proves that we can learn from bees by adopting their practice of storing honey in wax and restoring friendly exchange between humans and bees. The beeswax container for honey has won multiple international awards, including Dieline, D&AD, ADC, and other. It is not only remarkably eco-friendly, but also beautiful in its simplicity and aesthetically pleasing design. Bee Loop innovation brings meaningful change in the world, because they provide creatives with a roadmap as to how they can imagine beautiful products that don’t actively harm the environment.
The methodology used in the project is bottom-up. By listening to beekeepers and incorporating their best knowledge and practices, Aurimas Kadzevičius was able to create his unique idea. Furthermore, Aurimas Kadzevičius gathered a team of creatives to co-design the unique honey packaging and develop their idea into a viable business model.
The Bee Loop is unique but can be replicated anywhere in the World with enough beekeepers and enthusiasts in the network to allow for honey to be enjoyed without harming the planet. The whole concept can be applied anywhere in the world. The closed loop exchange system can be replicated in any place that has local honey value chains. The design blueprints can be shared anywhere in the World to make eco-friendly beautiful containers for honey.
People often don't realize that bees need much more protection because they pollinate all the world's plants, so without bees, humanity would simply not survive. In recent times industry's lack of environmental stewardship has created serious survival problems for many swarms. Wax has become an expensive product to buy from beekeepers, and bees are being given artificial wax substitutes. Honey is usually packed in glass or plastic containers, creating additional waste once the honey is consumed. Taking the principle of storing honey in wax from the bees, a sustainable and modern wax packaging Bee Loop was developed. After consumption the container can be given to beekeepers to melt and returned to the bees, or filled with new honey. This way, there is no additional waste. The network of conscious apiaries set up around the world can contribute to the development of this idea. The openly available prototype packaging allows for this packaging practice to be applied anywhere in the world. By taking small steps locally, big changes can be achieved globally.
