Launching an algae plastic start-up from the kitchen - with Jessica Farda from Noriware

Jessica's fascination for algae-based materials was born when she went to Mexico for vacation. There, she came up with the idea to create an algae-based packaging material after seeing algae on the beach and learning about their potential as a sustainable and circular material resource. 

Without any scientific background in chemistry or polymers, she did her own research and performed experiments at home in her own kitchen. Actually, by accident, she discovered a process for making plastics. That’s when she decided to move out of the kitchen and start collaborating with the ETH in Zurich to bring in more specific expertise in polymer chemistry. Et voila, there she is now with Noriware.

Aside from talking about her journey of co-founding Noriware, in this podcast we also discussed the feasibility and sustainability aspects of their products, and the challenges to gather funding for a tech start-up if you are not a scientist. Jessica also told us about the current state of algae-based material research, innovation and production in Europe.

You can find out more about Noriware at www.noriware.com or reach out to Jessica via LinkedIn.

From Passion to Mission for the Jordanian Marine Life - with Beisan AlSharif from Project Sea

In this episode, we have our first guest from the Middle East, Beisan AlSharif.

Beisan is a marine enthusiast with a passion for diving and the environment. She spent most of her time in South Jordan. During the pandemic, she found a traumatizing amount of waste underwater caused by the skyrocketing plastic usage. This then led her to co-found Project Sea, to extend her passion for scuba diving.

Project Sea aims to change the culture of littering and waste disposal by organizing monthly diving clean-up events in Jordan. They also educate the public by arranging interactive lectures, campaigns, and collaboration with local brands.

During the talk, we discussed how we often turn our eyes on Europe and sometimes forget that ocean plastic is a global and wider problem. We gained a new perspective from Beisan about what the situation is like in Jordan. She also tells us how demanding it can be to free the ocean from our plastic waste - especially when it gets caught in coral reefs.

You can find out more about Project Sea at https://www.linkedin.com/company/thisisprojectsea/ or reach out to Beisan via LinkedIn

Mimicking Nature: Sustainable honeycombs and sandwich materials - with Wouter Winant from EconCore.

Wouter Winant's expertise in the field of polymers started as a coincidence. Without a degree in chemistry or materials, he falls in love with the intersection between material science and the environment. Now, he has been working for over 15 years as a technical manager in EconCore, a company that develops technology for the continuous production of thermoplastic honeycombs.

The name says it all - the structure of thermoplastic honeycombs mimics nature's honeycombs, and it contains 80% air. By copying nature (through the biomimicry approach), the company successfully developed an environmentally friendly lightweight material requiring less plastic. In addition, they also focus on minimizing material usage by utilizing plastic waste, closing the loop with circular product design, and increasing their continuous production efficiency to reduce CO2 emissions.

 In this podcast episode, Wouter explains his work on all fronts to develop this innovative material that can be utilized for various mobility applications. We also discuss how reducing resources impacts the economic value of a product and the importance of considering economic viability alongside with sustainability.

You can find out more about Encore at https://econcore.com/en or reach out to Wouter via LinkedIn.

How to design polymers and composites for a circular future? - with Philip Taynton from Mallinda.

If you ever wondered what butter and eggs have in common with thermoplastics and thermosets, then this podcast is for you. Philip Taynton, the CEO from Mallinda, dives with us into the world of new sustainable, recyclable and circular polymer technologies for future composite applications. On that journey, he uses the most creative analogies and tells us why Mallinda is doing “eggs that melt”…

During college, Philip clicked with organic chemistry and found his niche in the world of polymers. It then lead him into co-founding Mallinda, a company that creates a novel and innovative vitrimeric resin system called VITRIMAX™.

In this episode, we get to know Philip’s innovative approach of reversible bond exchange in polymeric networks, which led him to founding Mallinda. He motivated us with his story and explanation to rethink how we design new materials to make them reversible by design and therefore circular. We learned that thinking “out of the box”, by changing the design strategy for plastics through reversible chemistry, will help us to achieve circularity.

You can find out more about Mallinda at https://mallinda.com/or reach out to Philip via LinkedIn.

How Data Drives The Circular Economy with Andrea Canepa from Net Zero Insights

In this episode, we invited a guest who is neither a polymer expert nor in the recycling field but heavily contributes to circular economy, Andrea Canepa.

Andrea accomplished his bachelor's in economics and continued studying quantitative finance. His educational background and work experience revolve around data, and since then, he knew for sure that he wanted to do something impactful with it.

That’s what motivated him to start Net Zero Insights with a mission to create a platform to support entrepreneurs by connecting them and simplifying the search for technologies and innovative organisations developing climate positive solutions. Currently, Net Zero Insights aims to provide access to insights on climate innovation to investors, governments, policymakers, researchers, and business developers. It is a platform with a massive database of climate-positive startups in Europe and North America. The companies listed are broad-in-purpose, but have the same goal of saving the environment.

In this episode, we mainly discussed how data enables us to understand the impact of our material world on the environment and sets a benchmark for the success of our actions. It is highly needed to understand and measure the complex interrelationships between stakeholders because “If you can measure, you can manage!”

You can find out more about Net Zero Insights at https://netzeroinsights.com/ or reach out to Andrea via LinkedIn.

Using Enzymes to Biodegrade Plastics with Andrii from Enzymity

In previous episodes, we talked about mechanical recycling and inorganic chemical recycling. This time, we invited someone from another recycling domain - one that uses enzymes as chemical reaction catalysts. Unlike inorganic chemicals, enzymes are bio-based substances, namely proteins that reduce the activation energy of a reaction. The advantage is that enzymatic processes are relatively mild and can be very tuned to drive very specific chemical reactions.

Driven by his high school dream, Andrii Shekhirev, who has studied business and finance, came back to the biotechnology field by co-founding Enzymity.

Enzymity is a Latvian-based biotech start-up that aims to drive materials circularity by breaking down plastics into their building blocks through an enzymatic process. The start-up focuses to use a tool kit in engineering naturally occurring enzymes, improving them and seeking commercialization with industrial partnerships.

During the discussion, we also heard Andrii's perspective on the financial aspect of the business, and the development of the start-up environment in Latvia. He also agreed with us that solving the plastic problem requires a mix of solutions, and hoped that Enzymity will become a part of it!

 You can find out more about Enzimity at https://enzymity.com/ or reach out to Andrii via LinkedIn.

Breaking The Recycling Confusion Problem with Evan Gwynne Davies from Scrapp

Evan is an architecture engineer who found his way into the world of recycling. His journey began in 2019, when he came up with an idea to solve the problem of contamination in recycling bins by participating in a challenge. Together with his two other classmates, Evan founded Scrapp, a recycling app that helps people put trash in the right bin.

In this podcast, we talked about the importance of making conscious and sustainable decisions when discarding plastic waste, as it can save the public billions of dollars. There is currently a knowledge gap between plastic manufacturers and consumers that we have to minimize. Evan also shared with us about his experience with how difficult it is to compile data on the recyclability of our everyday plastic waste. During the podcast, we also discussed the importance of educating the young generation to get momentum on putting things into action. We agreed that Information and resources about climate change are accessible, and the new challenge is how to turn them into action. We hope that companies that produce fossil-based materials will become more responsible to find solutions and take care of the customer in an eco-conscious way.

You can find out more about Scrapp Recycling at https://www.scrapprecycling.com/ or reach out to Evan via LinkedIn.

A project with a Purpose to Clean Up The Planet with Jordi from R*Concept and Good Karma

It all began with building surfboards and then turned into a fruitful project to save the world. In this podcast episode, we invited Jordi Olivia Farriol, a passionate young man behind Good Karma Projects and R*concept. He told us how he developed sustainable alternatives, to replace petrochemical raw materials in resins.

R*concept is a company that aims to provide bio-composite solutions, and Good Karma is a non-profit organization that develops educational and environmental awareness projects.

During the podcast, we also discussed the importance of educating the young generation to get momentum on putting things into action. We agreed that Information and resources about climate change are accessible, and the new challenge is how to turn them into action. We hope that companies that produce fossil-based materials will become more responsible to find solutions and take care of the customer in an eco-conscious way.

You can find out more and reach out to Jordi via LinkedIn. Don’t forget to read more about Good Karma and R*Concept on their website!

A Journey to Enable Circularity with Jan Hommen from TOMRA

With a background in industrial engineering, Jan Hommen found his passion and interest within the circular economy field. He started by working with TOMRA during his master thesis, and he is now working full-time in the circular economy department.

TOMRA is a Norwegian company that focuses on the technology for waste collection, recycling, and also food-processing. In this podcast, we identified the challenges in achieving circularity and learned the importance of working interdisciplinary to close the loop at different ends of the value chain. Households and industries play a big role in the circular economy, as it determines the waste composition and creates the demand across the system.

We also heard exciting news from Jan that there has been an increasing trend to incorporate waste collection and recycling in business models. It is a wind of change blown by a generation that is driven by passion and a sense of responsibility for our future!

You can find out more and reach out to Jan via LinkedIn.

Closing the recycling loop using Reverse Logistics with Marcelo Cairolli

Marcelo Cairolli is a production engineer from Brazil with a background in logistics. In the past, Marcelo has been involved in several logistic sectors, but he is now specializing in reverse logistics for electronic products.

Reverse logistics is commonly known as a sector that deals with the transportation of products from their "end-of-life" back to "production". But in this podcast, we discovered that reverse logistics has a broader meaning. It is the motor of circular economy, the enabler of all the R's, and also creates the social value of "We messed a lot with plastics and now need to clean up"!

In this podcast, Marcelo taught us about the different approaches to reverse logistics, and how to make the end of life of electronics more circular. We also had interesting discussions about the role of governments and education in closing recycling loops.

You can find out more and reach out to Marcelo via LinkedIn.