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Tech Startups Share Solutions for ‘Rethinking Materials’

Twelve early-stage startups providing technology around the circular economy for materials present their innovations to attendees at the recent Rethinking Materials Summit in London.

From l. to r., Mesbah Sabur of Circularise, Liz Corbin of Materiom, Claire Rampen of Reath, and Patrick Teyssonneyre of Xinterra, share their innovations during a Technology Showcase, ‘Digital Solutions Supporting Efficiencies in Materials,’ at the Rethinking Materials Summit.
From l. to r., Mesbah Sabur of Circularise, Liz Corbin of Materiom, Claire Rampen of Reath, and Patrick Teyssonneyre of Xinterra, share their innovations during a Technology Showcase, ‘Digital Solutions Supporting Efficiencies in Materials,’ at the Rethinking Materials Summit.

Rethinking materials to eliminate plastic waste and create a circular economy requires patience, collaboration, passion, and—for emerging technologies—financing. That’s according to Harriet Lamb, chief executive officer of WRAP (The Waste and Resources Action Programme), a climate-action NGO based in the U.K., who provided the welcome address at last week’s conference in London, aptly titled the Rethinking Materials Summit.

The two-day event brought together more than 350 attendees (live and virtual) from 34 countries to showcase and connect pioneering companies that are reimagining how materials in consumer products and packaging are produced, consumed, repurposed, and financed.

One interesting feature of the event specifically designed to connect early-stage tech startups with potential investors was a series of three Technology Showcase sessions, each one featuring four companies. Session subject areas included, “Material Innovation Delivering on Performance and Functionality,” “Innovation Supporting the Decarbonization and Circularity of Materials,” and “Digital Solutions Supporting Efficiencies in Materials.”

What follows are overviews of some of the companies featured.

Kelpi: Described by company co-founder and CEO Neil Morris as a material innovation company, Kelpi has developed a compostable bioplastic material from seaweed that can replace single-use plastics for food, personal care, and cosmetics packaging. Kelpi uses only farmed seaweed, due to the fact, Morris explained, that there is still a question of impact on marine environments when seaweed is taken from the ocean. The company is working with East Asian seaweed farmers, but is moving toward farming in the U.K. and Canada. Currently, Morris shared that the company is hindered in its efforts to scale up the technology, as it’s waiting for food-contact approval.

Sharon Barak, co-founder and CEO, Solutum, IsraelSharon Barak, co-founder and CEO, Solutum, IsraelSolutum: An Israel-based start-up, Solutum has a vision to eliminate plastic waste for good. That’s according to Sharon Barak, co-founder and chief executive officer of the company, who provided a show-and-tell at the conference, demonstrating how bioplastics created with Solutum’s proprietary compound allows the flexible film to dissolve in water. Solutum’s compound leverages natural biochemical processes to dissolve into natural biomass, including CO2 and H2O, in water at ambient temperatures. The company controls the compound’s temperature sensitivity to water through unique mechanisms, offering a range of predetermined temperature and dissolving times, allowing it to adapt to a broader range of plastic applications and substitutions. The material can run in existing equipment and is recyclable without affecting waste streams.

Again: Based in the U.K., Again offers reuse solutions for Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies, in particular, beverage brands using glass packaging. According to Brian Matuszewski, chief partnerships officer of Again, who presented at the summit, the company collects, sorts, cleans, and returns packaging to brands, with the capability to process 0.5 million packs/month through robotics. The company operates a network of proprietary CleanCells, co-located at logistics hubs, that recondition packages to the highest quality standards. Each package is tagged, which enables Again to see how many loops a package has gone through, taking containers out of circulation when they’ve reached their maximum reuse life. The company pays collection partners and retailers (operating Deposit Return Schemes) for every unit of packaging they receive. Again is currently working with Diageo, Coca-Cola, and AB InBev.

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