Pursuing a passion: CauliBox is paving the way in climate tech
Mingqiao Zhao (MA 2014) is co-founder of a climate tech start-up that aims to prevent one million items of disposable packaging going to waste by the end of 2024. She shares her story, from fond memories of St Andrews to continued connections through alumni investment.
Growing up in Chengdu, China, I always knew I wanted to study a politics-related degree abroad. When my mother brought a University of St Andrews prospectus home from an education expo, I was immediately captivated by the history of the University, the town…and the ranking tables! In September 2009, in my first trip outside China, I arrived in Fife and checked into New Hall.
Surprisingly, I didn’t feel much of a cultural shock. Perhaps people of different nationalities and cultures – especially those of a similar age – are more alike than you might think in terms of how they live, study and eat. Very quickly I was indulging in fish and chips on Fridays, fudge doughnuts at Fisher & Donaldson…and gaining weight at the same speed!
Great views and golf at dawn
Some of my fondest memories were my two years living in McIntosh Hall. The views over the Old Course and West Sands were spectacular and particularly special for someone coming from a land-locked metropolitan city.
Playing golf before dawn down at the driving range seemed a good idea given the short commute, although I remember feeling rather self-conscious as the only person my age practising their swing at that hour. I found volunteering at Barnardo’s bookshop on Bell Street to be an enjoyable and rewarding experience, while also helping to boost their sales.
Other (perhaps less fond) memories are of sitting exams in the Sports Hall while the winds were howling outside, and dealing with the headache that was the shortage of student accommodation in the town.
Aside from those niggles, my university years were a truly carefree and liberating time during which I explored as much as I could. I took great delight in studying ‘unconventional’ modules covering everything from the history of madness and suicides in early modern Britain to children in international relations.
Beyond ‘the Bubble’
In my final year, I started to dread leaving ‘the Bubble’ because I didn’t really have any career plans. After graduation in 2014, I had a stint at setting up a football school in China. It was a wild experience thanks to my time working at a Scottish Premier League club while at St Andrews.
My parents didn’t go to university, so they then encouraged me to pursue a Masters degree, which I did at the London School of Economics in Comparative Politics in 2016. From there, I worked as a Middle East analyst in London for a few years. This role required both Arabic and Mandarin skills and, conveniently, I studied Arabic during my sub-honours years at St Andrews. I loved that job because it allowed me to travel extensively in the MENA region.
Caring for a cause
While my interests are wide-ranging, environmentalism is the cause I care most about. At the age of 14 I set up my first sustainability business, collecting recyclable bottles and cans from my schoolmates and selling them to recycling companies. The profits went to fund an education charity which my roommates and I founded (named after our room number, 2306).
Fast forward a few years and while working in central London I used to frequent a street food market in Victoria where I was mortified by all the packaging waste. The stats are staggering. Did you know that 86% of takeaway packaging ends up in landfill due to contamination and a lack of composting infrastructure in this country*? The amount of waste and emissions would be significantly lower (by up to 92%) if packaging were reusable.
After meeting my co-founder Jo – a well-known sustainability campaigner who took Chinese opera courses alongside me at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London – we decided to take matters into our own hands.
Launching CauliBox
CauliBox was launched as the UK’s first tech-enabled reusable lunchbox scheme as a side hustle through the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. In early 2022, we turned full-time founders, ready to use business and technology as a force for good. Today, Caulibox is the largest provider of reusable packaging solutions for the food service industry in the UK. Customers include the corporate restaurants of BT, the NHS, University of Greenwich and one of the largest asset managers in Scotland, plus many more.
Our vision is to eliminate single-use packaging waste, plastic or non-plastic. In doing this, we are fundamentally changing how we consume. The immediate milestone is to prevent one million disposables going into circulation by the end of 2024 through our packaging and reverse collection technology innovation and the use of AI to track usage and returns.
The startup journey was far from straightforward. The odds were against us, since female founders receive less than 2% of venture capital investments and the percentage for female founders from minority backgrounds is smaller still We had to be extremely resourceful, resilient and innovative, which turned out to be a positive thing. It motivated us to build a strong product-market fit and find a route to profitability early on. For us, a climate tech startup has a different bottom line. It has to be both environmentally and commercially sustainable, unlike many ‘traditional’ tech companies. We could not have done it without the right support. Our team is young, highly skilled and fully committed to the cause. We have learned so much from our advisers, Julian Metcalfe, co-founder of Pret A Manger and Itsu, and Jamie Crummie, co-founder of the food waste app Too Good To Go.
St Andrews: connections continued
My alma mater continues to inspire me in what I do. I was thrilled to hear about the opening of the Scottish Oceans Institute building at the University in 2019. Knowing the significance of its research to the preservation of our oceans was special to me, both in relation to my work today and when thinking about the many walks I took by the North Sea.
Fellow St Andrews alumnus Prince William’s Earthshot Prize is one of the greatest recognitions for environmental innovations and CauliBox plans to take part in the competition this year. Our connection to the University has continued, with another alumnus becoming our latest investor. I am so proud to be a St Andrews graduate and look forward to reuniting with many friends in 2024 as we celebrate 10 years since our graduation.
Find out more about CauliBox here or get in touch with Mingqiao via LinkedIn here.