Best Practices

Founded in 2018, Folkets Pops’ main product is frozen dessert that is made from seasonal and local products. Their naturally vegan sorbet pops are made using a combination of seasonal fruit that would otherwise go to waste, wild foraged flavours, produce from friendly local farmers and organic ingredients. Because they use what can be saved or what is in season locally, their menu changes every week. All pops are handmade in their store in Malmö, Sweden.

Folkets Pops’ sustainability mission is two-fold: they work with local suppliers to save ugly fruit, overstock, and other perfectly fine produce that would otherwise go to waste. Along with other local and seasonal products, saved fruits become the main ingredient of their pops, which means that at the company’s core is the goal of helping reduce food waste. On the other hand, Folkets Pops actively engages with sustainable financing through philanthropic initiatives, donating 1 Swedish Kronor (kr) for every purchased pop to Naturskyddsforeningen to help save our bees.

Folkets Pops is a great example of how a company can base its business model on sustainable practices and adopt sustainable finance practices. Since its conception, the company has had sustainability at its core. Their sorbet is naturally vegan and made using fresh fruit, Swedish beet sugar, and organic herbs and spices. The used fruits are a combination of saved products that would otherwise go to waste and local and seasonal products. Their products are sold both at their store and kitchen in Malmö and throughout the city on a bike. Folkets Pops further offers wholesale, and all their pops are wrapped individually in compostable paper. Finally, its sustainable finance approach is based on the donation of 1 kr of each purchased popsicle to a bee conservation project in Sweden.

As a result, Folkets Pops has a unique business model that operates by bringing together low emissions from production to delivery and investment in projects that are key for biodiversity conservation.

Folkets Pops addresses pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, resource depletion, and waste management. It also addresses social issues by collaborating with local producers and supporting good employee relations.

At the end of 2019, Folkets Pops was awarded Årets Hållbarhetspris (Annual Sustainability Award) by Nyföretagarcentrum and Sysav.

So far, they have donated 42 310 kr (around 4 000 euros) to save the bees and helped rescue 1 000 kilos of fruits that were used to make their popsicles.

Some indicators of performance and success can be observed in the amount of funds donated to the environmental cause supported by the company and the number of kilos of fruits that are rescued as base ingredients to make their main product.

Some challenges identified by the founder were that, at the beginning, it was difficult for her to find a place where she could make their popsicles and that would be licensed as an approved kitchen according to the health regulations. It is also challenging to gather funds to allocate to purchase bigger and expensive machinery that would be necessary to produce on a larger scale as well as to keep the popsicles frozen. Another challenge is connected to the base ingredients themselves. As she uses rescued, local, and seasonable products, it is necessary to spend some time cleaning and cooking the ingredients quickly after being received to avoid going to waste. This requires strong commitment in terms of time and effort.

A recommendation to overcome most of these challenges is to create a good network and collaborate with local producers and other companies.

Folketspops, n.d. Folketspops. Available at: https://www.folketspops.se/

Folketspops, n.d. About. Available at: https://www.folketspops.se/about