25,786,890 *
 
chopsticks recycled and transformed
 
that otherwise would have ended up in the landfill
 
* Last updated May 15, 2020
 

What we do

Recycling Chopsticks

Producing in Microfactories

Creating Minimalistic Design

We urban harvest used chopsticks. Our resource is what others may view as waste - that means we don’t take virgin materials from our environment. Every chopstick is perfect, slender, and defect-free, making them ideal to develop an innovative engineered material.

When designing products, our mindset has been circularity and longevity.
This allows us to minimize our environmental impact while creating sustainable solutions engineered to last.

Who said you can’t have it all?

We intend to make a difference

We are completely transparent with our efforts to leave a climate positive
footprint throughout our entire process.

Our hope is to help you make more conscious decisions by sharing how we
source our materials, how we process them, and what you can do with your
products' end of life.

Want to learn more? Dive into our annual Urban Impact Report.

With your help - whether you’re a customer, corporate, collection partner, or Microfactory franchisee - every little action is one step towards a greener future.

Together, we can lead by example and redefine the term waste to resource.

Founder's note

Why I dream about chopsticks.

Not too long ago, I tried to apply my wood engineering and stereotypical “German efficiency thinking” (not my quote) to tackle the wood and construction waste in Vancouver, Canada.

A seminar that presented the research results and potential industry know-how for value-added materials, unfortunately, did not resonate much with industry leaders. It was frustrating, but at the same time eye-opening.

I realized that in order to prove sustainable business concepts that rely on under-utilized resource supply, there must be thought leaders who show its viability. It had to be interesting, something easy to comprehend, and something that elicits emotions towards the problem of linear economy and our vast amount of waste. I would need to develop a process that creates innovative, highly value-added, and appealing products from a relatable resource.

And that is how ChopValue was born.

Fast forward 10 million chopsticks - we have presented our Microfactory concept in more than 10 countries, with media covered in more than 35. For me, we’ve moved beyond proving that we have built a viable, carbon-negative manufacturing business out of discarded chopsticks, and now it's time to expand this concept globally.

Our story resonates with people. We believe that we have the responsibility to educate, inspire, and set an example that resource efficiency thinking should simply be the norm.

- Felix Böck

Board of directors

 
Brian Curin | Director
Advisor for Branding and Franchising

“I’m grateful and proud that ChopValue is sharing this with the right strategic partners to accelerate the impact they can have on the world and future generations. It was an easy decision to go all in with ChopValue, as one of Little Kitchen Academy’s global strategic partners, as a supporter, and as a director. I believe that every major market across the globe will benefit by having a ChopValue Microfactory in its backyard.”

 
Yuri Fulmer | Director
Advisor for Strategic Partnerships and Franchising

“We believe in enabling local entrepreneurs to own their businesses. ChopValue’s transparent business model makes it simple to calculate the environmental benefits and how large the economic rewards can be through franchising to expand their market presence.”

Mike Winterfield | Director
Advisor for Operations and Sales

Felix Böck | Director
CEO and Founder

Evian MacMillan | Director
Strategic Partnerships and Sales

Let’s create impact, together.