building the circular economy in 2020: mobius pbc updates on the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment
Our team has been reporting on our progress for the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment for the last two years. In 2019, we joined the Global Commitment as an initial signatory and in 2020, we shared our updates on our progress.
updates on the global commitment
The number of companies that have joined The Global Commitment has surpassed 500 signatories, including 450 retailers and manufacturers from 70 countries, 40 universities, institutions, and academics, 15 financial institutions, and a number of supporting governments.
The list of signatories represents 20% of all plastic packaging produced globally, from businesses such as L’Oréal; MARS; Nestlé; PepsiCo; The Coca-Cola Company; Unilever; Walmart; Amcor, and Berry Global.
goals for the global commitment
The signatories will work to eliminate the plastic items we don’t need; innovate so all plastics we do need are designed to be safely reused, recycled, or composted; and circulate the materials we use to keep them in a closed loop system of biological or technical components, avoiding leakage into the environment.
To create a common vision to unify all of these organizations, there are 6 key characteristics that each of our commitments address:
- Elimination of problematic or unnecessary plastics through redesign, innovation, and new delivery models
- Reuse of materials where applicable, reducing the need for single-use plastics
- All plastics are 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable
- All plastics are reused, recycled, or composted in practice
- The use of plastics is fully decoupled from the consumption of finite resources
- All plastics are free of hazardous chemicals, and the health, safety, and rights of all people involved are respected
mobius updates in 2020
2020 was a tough year for mobius, as it was for most companies around the world. As we faced the challenge of COVID-19, we worked with our team and local community to make sure that we could continue doing our work in a safe way. While this impacted our ability to produce new materials, there were plenty of opportunities for us to progress on our commitments.
Our current focus is on the development of a new family of biodegradable and compostable plastics made from lignin, a renewable material found in all trees and grasses, and produced at over 100 million tons every year by the paper and biofuel industries.
In alignment with the New Plastics Economy, our commitment is:
“By 2025, all (mobius) products will be made from 100% renewable feedstocks that come from responsibly managed sources, with a minimum of 50% content derived from industrial organic waste streams from food, forestry, and agriculture.”
As of July 2021, we’ve continued to develop new polymers for the agricultural and horticultural industry, moving beyond formulation development and into manufacturing and product application trials. We’ve worked with manufacturers in the US and Europe to evaluate these materials for applications like horticultural containers and agricultural films.
All of these formulations have been made with over 50% organic waste content (from lignin) and many formulations included 95%+ renewable feedstock content.
Most of this work has been supported through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, where we’ve been fortunate to receive funding from the USDA and NSF to accelerate the development of these technologies.
get in touch
Like any startup, we are always looking for new collaborators. If you’re an investor, a brand owner interested in sustainable chemicals and materials, a company that produces organic waste, a retailer wanting to boost your environmental stewardship, a plastic manufacturer, or just a person interested in learning more about our company, we’d love to talk to you!
