UBC Student Entrepreneurs Launch Mosa
The brand upcycles old glass bottles, giving them a new life
December 1, 2022 (Vancouver, BC) - Raw glass manufacturing produces at least 86 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. This is something UBC Students Prishita Agarwal and Abhiudai Mishra are on a mission to change. They will be doing this through the simple act of recycling. Announced today, Mosa’s team of nearly two dozen UBC students will be bringing the brand and its products to Vancouver consumers. How the initiative works is that students collect disposed glass bottles across the city of Vancouver that would have otherwise gone to landfills. These bottles are then innovatively upcycled in-house in their microfactory and then handcrafted into modern, functional, and elegant home decor products. The Mosa team carefully designs and crafts each product to create a like-new experience that meets consumers’ everyday needs, reducing barriers for those keen to begin a sustainable lifestyle.
The impetus for Mosa came from Agarwal and Mishra discovering what happens to glass bottles once they are no longer needed. They were shocked to find out that most glass bottles never get recycled and end up at landfills despite being completely recyclable.
Inadequate glass recycling contributes to the world’s critical sand shortage, which is being dubbed by scientists as “one of the greatest sustainability challenges of the 21st century”. With the urgency of resource conservation amidst this crisis at the top of their mind, the duo became determined to make a scalable difference in their local community. The most effective way of doing so, they understood, was to introduce waste reduction into people’s everyday lives, allowing people to join in on becoming a part of the solution through something that feels enticing yet effortless. Their solution was Mosa, a student-run and sustainability-focused startup with a line of home decor products made from upcycled glass bottles.
Mosa products empower consumers to uncover the power they wield by simply incorporating sustainability elements into their routines at home. Through every scented candle (made from beer bottles), or every beverage consumed in the Frosted Glass (made from diamond-cut wine bottles), consumers give glass waste a second life by making the simple switch to Mosa. “We heard from so many people who are keen to leave an impact on advancing sustainability in their day-to-day lives, but between their busy schedules or just simply not knowing how, they are struggling to find a way”, Agarwal says. ‘Mosa is growing to become a simple, one-stop first step to meet that desire’. In its latest launch of a line of intricately redesigned products, the company invites its customers to take a gratifying and enjoyable first step to a journey of sustainability. In tangibly extending the life of glass bottles locally, customers join a community of people already leaving an impact through Mosa.
And this impact is strong. Since its founding, Mosa has locally diverted over five thousand glass bottles from the landfill and, in turn, saved over a million grams in CO2 emissions. The Mosa community is rapidly growing, too. The company has built an online following of thousands, and has already helped over five hundred people divert waste in their everyday routines and contribute to being a part of the local solution to glass waste. The company is well on its way to scaling its impact, having recently launched at wide-reaching retailers such as the flagship UBC Bookstore, bringing the Mosa sustainable lifestyle within reach of thousands more. Head over to Mosa’s website to become a part of the solution to the glass waste problem: www.itsmosa.ca.
About Mosa
Mosa is Vancouver’s leading upcycled home decor glassware company, designing, manufacturing, and handcrafting products entirely using locally-collected disposed glass bottles. Through its innovative upcycling technology, Mosa has diverted over 5,000 glass bottles from the landfill, repurposing them into its lineup of gorgeous, sustainable products. In turn, Mosa has empowered a community of hundreds to take their first step into a sustainable lifestyle. The Mosa team has been showcased through flagship organizations including SAP and BCBusiness, and top media outlets including Radio-Canada. To learn more about Mosa, visit www.itsmosa.ca.
Media Contact:
Michael Jin
Corporate Relations Lead, Mosa
Phone: +1 778 682 8101