tuuma · Clean Industry

tuuma

Country: 🇨🇴 Colombia · Barranquilla Category: Clean Industry CT Taxonomy: CT-WA-004 — Circular Products & EPR Impact Areas: Circular Economy Stage: Ideation Team Size: 0.0 Funded: False

Elevator Pitch

Túuma is a portable accessory with a built-in reusable bag, designed to fit inside the user's bag. It addresses the sustainability issue—not a lack of awareness, but forgetfulness—by eliminating the disconnect between environmental intentions and actual habits.

Climate Problem

Colombia uses 1,885 plastic bags per minute and recycles only 20% of the plastic it produces. Túuma tackles the behavioral root of the problem—forgetting to bring a reusable bag—by turning sustainable intentions into actual habits.

Solution

Túuma is a portable accessory that features a built-in reusable bag, designed to stay on the user’s keychain or in their bag. Since it’s always within reach, it prevents you from forgetting it and makes every purchase an automatic sustainable choice.

Revenue Model

Direct sales of accessories featuring seasonal collections that are updated regularly, encouraging repeat purchases. In the future, partnerships with retailers and sustainable brands for distribution and special co-branded editions.

Target Market

Colombian urban consumers from the middle and upper-middle classes who are actively environmentally conscious, aged 20 to 45, who have already purchased reusable bags but do not use them consistently. This group includes, in particular, women who carry a handbag or backpack on a daily basis.

Social Impact

Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic - Religious and Linguistic Minorities, Migrants, People Living in Extreme Poverty, Women

Demand Evidence

Law 2232 of 2022 bans plastic bags at the point of sale, making alternatives mandatory. The market for sustainable accessories is growing worldwide, and millions of Colombians are already buying reusable bags without actually using them: the problem is real

Competitors

Generic foldable bags (Ecobag, Chinese brands) and local sustainable accessory shops. None of them combine everyday usability with Colombian cultural identity. Túuma doesn’t compete with reusable bags—it competes with being forgotten.

Founder Expertise

I am an environmental engineer specializing in consumer behavior and sustainable management, and I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in project management at UPB. I combine technical environmental expertise, behavioral research, and innovation management to lead Túuma

External Support

none

Team

I lead user behavior research, define design parameters and materials, manage the iterative development of prototypes, coordinate stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem, and oversee the strategy for transferring the product to the production sector.

Founder

PAOLA PEÑALOZA