Decomer Technologies: Zero-Waste Plastic Replacements
Waste from plastics has gained worldwide attention in recent years as scientists find massive accumulation in oceans, microplastics contaminating our food supply, and pollution spreading to distant ecosystems. As a result, countries are rapidly moving to ban plastics, particularly single use, and multinational companies are pouring billions of dollars into R&D to find replacements.
Decomer Technology, out of Estonia’s University of Tartu, has developed a new plant-based material to replace a plastics in a huge range of single-use products. We talked to co-founders Mart Salumae and Kelly Kangur.
Tell us about your background and how you started thinking about a solution for plastic waste.
I was interested in life sciences for a long time and had an entrepreneurial mindset so I was always thinking of how my research would apply outside of academia. While in university I got into biopolymers after seeing how many flaws there are in the design and lifecycle of our daily materials. All this work was with the goal of translating so from the beginning we used inputs that would ensure the end product would be cost effective, sustainable, and scalable. While experimenting on a side project with water soluble materials and seeing it had promise in the lab, we realized it was time to spin out and start Decomer.
Plastics is a broad term with many nuances on the inputs and use, what specific use case or material are you replacing?
There are a huge number of products that have a very short use lifecycle. The end consumer is only using the product for a few minutes or less, but the material persists for years in nature eventually breaking down into micro-plastics which have unseen consequences for ourselves, wildlife, and the environment. Working backwards from those parameters we made a material that dissolves in water and has natural building blocks so it is composted and rebuilds the soil.
So it’s just dissolvable? Or can you do more with it?
Yes, it’s tunable for properties beyond just water-solubility. We can change dissolution temperature and speeds depending on the application, and also mechanical properties to stretch, be flexible, rigid, etc. For example, detergent pods need to survive in water for 30 seconds so we adjust the material to take longer to dissolve, and also be able to withstand the enzymes contained inside the pod. A simpler product is Ramen, where we simply need to packaging to survive until thrown in water where it dissolves to release noodles and flavoring with zero waste. These seem like small markets, but there are over 100 billion ramen packets and 20 billion detergent pods used each year globally.
You mentioned earlier this is made from plants. What does this mean for the consumer and your production?
First off, we started from raw materials that are price competitive with petroleum based plastics to avoid creating technology to make cheap building blocks. We want to be process innovators. There is an incredible abundance of waste plant fibers, so we use them as our starting block. We created a new process to bind and tune them to different material properties and we know scaling is cost-competitive since the inputs are so cheap. The other vital aspect is safety. These inputs are all food safe, hypoallergenic, and approved by regulators.
So you have this material. What are next steps for Decomer’s go-to market?
We’re going to market with our own unique products because we can get revenue right away as we scale production. We already have interest and requests to order single-use dissolvable honey packets which are convenient, easy to use, and mess free. At the same time we’re talking to some of the biggest CPG companies in the world. They’re facing pressure from consumers who are demanding sustainability while not wanting to give up convenience in their products. We’ll be testing our material for integration into their manufacturing processes which will allow us to hit global markets quickly.
Watch Decomer pitch on IndieBio Demo Day, Tuesday June 25th in San Francisco or via LiveStream. Register here!
