We’re on a mission to improve the circularity of plastic.
Modern society has failed to develop an effective solution to recycle plastic. 38 million tons of plastic are produced each year in North America. Most of this plastic will not be recycled: last year, ~34 million tons of plastic were incinerated or deposited in a landfill. This has massive implications for the environment—annually, 850M+ tons of CO2 are emitted due to plastics and 8M+ tons of plastic pollutes oceans. There has been no increase in plastic recycling rates over the past 10 years.
One root cause of the plastics problem is the mechanical plastic recycling process. This process involves heating and re-forming plastic under high temperature and pressure. This process is low yield, uneconomical, reduces the integrity of the plastic, and generates significant CO2 emissions. Moreover, this process isn’t truly circular, since recycled plastic can only be re-recycled a limited number of times before significant loss of functionality. Today, for example, ~70% of recycled plastic bottles are recycled into fibers, rather than other bottles.
The plastic recycling industry requires innovation to solve this problem. The value of the North American market for all plastic exceeds $120B ($580B globally) annually. Despite a strong preference for sustainable alternatives, the annual supply of recycled plastic is only able to meet 6% of demand. Demand for recycled resin is further expected to increase due to brand commitments mandating the consumption of recycled plastic (typically 30%+ use of recycled resin by 2030). Meeting these requirements collectively requires a ~500% increase in supply of ‘prime quality’ recycled plastic resin by 2030.
Our enzyme-mediated recycling process will drastically improve plastic recycling. Our recycling process will output high quality, environmentally sustainable, cost-competitive recycled plastic. Specifically, our technology will:
Increase the availability of recycled plastic, enabling our partners to meet sustainability goals. We plan to drastically improve the efficiency of plastics recycling and accept currently ‘unrecyclable’ plastic products as inputs.
Produce outputs equivalent in quality to virgin plastic. We will empower end-producers and consumers to produce the highest quality recycled plastic packaging.
Enable a circular plastic system. We will enable a truly circular system (e.g., bottles-to-bottles). Today, most recycled plastic is currently ‘downcycled’ into lower value alternatives.
Be cost-competitive with inferior recycled outputs. We will supply our recycled plastic resins at or below the equivalent cost of mechanically recycled plastic.