Start-ups
From a fishing net to a shopping bag
Video: Why grammar school pupils from Rendsburg are on the road to success with fishing nets (KfW Group/n-tv). This video is only available in German.
What was once used to pull fish out of the water is now used to carry groceries. The student start-up Meehr produces bags made from used fishing nets in order to offer an alternative to plastic bags and combat plastic waste in the sea.
The young people at the Helene-Lange High School in Rendsburg came up with the idea as part of the nationwide JUNIOR programme. It enables pupils to launch their own start-ups with the aim of gaining a better understanding of economic correlations and developing their own business ideas. One of the participants came up with the idea of reusing old fishing nets – upcycling them instead of throwing them away.
The idea gained traction; the prototype became a series product. In the meantime, “Helene, the fishing net bag” is made together with the Materialhof workshops by people with mental and physical disabilities. The efforts of the founders have paid off: Meehr was honoured as the best German pupil company in the national JUNIOR competition held by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi). The start-up thus also qualified for participation in the European Final and won the special prize for Social Entrepreneurship.
Our video introduces the award-winning school company, which we were also able to present at the awards ceremony for the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award 2019.
The described project contributes to the following United Nationsʼ Sustainable Development Goals
Goal 8: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all
The economic growth of the past decades has come at the expense of natural resources and the global climate, and has long since reached ecological limits. If all people were to be given access to the quality of life that people accept as a matter of course in Germany, several planet Earths would be required to sustain it. Sustainable economic development reconciles social, ecological and economic development goals.
All United Nations member states adopted the 2030 Agenda in 2015. At its heart is a list of 17 goals for sustainable development, known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our world should become a place where people are able to live in peace with each other in ways that are ecologically compatible, socially just, and economically effective.
Published on KfW Stories: 21 November 2019.
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