PlasticFri

Conventional plastics are made from oil. They cause pollution and stay in the environment for up to 1000 years! 

Basically, all of the plastic that has ever been made still exists today and humans produce around 335 million tonnes of plastic each year. That is roughly the same weight as all of humanity combined!

By 2050, the oceans could have more plastic than fish. So there is an urgent NEED for alternative environmentally-friendly solutions that can REPLACE the conventional fossil-based plastics.

We are an award-winning team of researchers who invented PlasticFriTM: a proprietary technology to make a material that looks & works like conventional (petroleum-based) plastics, but it’s 100% biodegradable, compostable, non-toxic & free from conventional plastics.

This revolutionary technology is already certified by the toughest certification standard in Europe.

We offer several products including 100% compostable carrier bags, waste bags, disposable cups, disposable gloves, packaging nets and more.

Despite the data gaps, the sustained production of plastics, weak waste management infrastructure in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, and existing evidence on negative impacts to biodiversity highlight an urgent case for greater action on addressing marine debris.Plastic is the number one type of pollution in the waters of Latin America and the Caribbean!

And that most of the plastic in the water comes from land-based sources.

 A recently published USAID white paper found that plastic pollution problem is growing at an exponential rate and it is having negative impacts on marine life and biodiversity in the region. The research identified four main factors contributing to the increasing levels of marine debris in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). 

The contributing factors include:

1. Population growth, urbanization, and increasing tourism
2. Increasing demand for and production of plastic products
3. Climate change
4. Poor governance, including weak land use planning, regulation and enforcement; poor municipal waste management; and poor fisheries and aquaculture management

In brief, the production and use of petroleum-based plastics in the Latin America and the Caribbean region indicates an existing evidence on negative impacts to biodiversity and highlights an urgent case for greater action on replacing them with more environmentally-friendly alternatives such as PlasticFri

Since we have different products, each of them covers different target groups along the value chain, including organizations, companies, local governments, restaurants, airports, CSR departments as well as end-consumers.

• At the macro-level, plastic problem negatively impacts tourism, recreation, fisheries and industry, thereby creating indirect economic consequences.
• At the micro-level, biodiversity is impacted in various ways when ecosystems and species interact with marine debris via ingestion, entanglement, contamination, and transport of invasive species

PlasticFriTM is a proprietary technology to make a material that looks and works like conventional (petroleum-based) plastics, but it is 100% biodegradable, compostable, totally non-toxic and free from any conventional plastic materials. Because we use raw materials derived from abundant, cheap and renewable plant resources, mainly coming from agricultural waste and nonedible plants. This means it contains no substances or materials that are harmful to animals or nature and can be composted in less than 90 days.

Our patent-pending innovation is all about minimizing the environmental impact of conventional petroleum-based plastics by making an environmentally-friendly alternative. PlasticFri’s impact is not limited to only saving CO2, but also to contribute to reducing climate change impact, ocean toxicity, food quality, eco-system disruption and habitat disruption.

This revolutionary technology is already tested, validated and certified by TUV and the European standard EN 13432, the toughest certification standard in Europe.

PlasticFri directly fits to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 as well as indirectly to SDGs 3 and 6.

Our work has received several awards and recognitions including Alfred Nobel Innovation Award, Audi Environmental Foundation Scholarship, Unilever Social Innovation Challenge on Plastics and Norrsken Impact Award, the biggest prize for impact startups in the Nordics.

The company founders have been selected by the Forbes magazine as one of the top 30 most influential entrepreneurs and are featured on the prestigious Forbes 30under30 list.

Early stage development has been supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, National Innovation Agency, Energy Agency and Think Beyond Plastic Foundation.

More information: https://plasticfri.com

There are different alternatives on the market. But each of them has its own challenges and limitations. For example, other bioplastics are expensive & their functionality is poor. Paper products cause 70% more CO2 emission & their production requires 5xtimes more energy. Cotton products are expensive & they cause a huge environmental impact.

PlasticFri is superior to existing solutions, because it has the lowest environmental impact while providing a great performance at a competitive price. 

PlasticFri is:

+ 100% Compostable 

+ 100% Biodegradable  

+ 100% Non-toxic

+ Reducing CO2 emission by up to 90%

+ We use raw materials derived from abundant & renewable plant resources, mainly coming from agricultural waste and nonedible plants. This means it contains no substances that are harmful to animals or nature and can be composted in less than 90 days.

Because PlasticFri is developed based on an actual need! 

And the feedback from our current customers and users confirms the positive impact it has

1. 200,000+

2. 1,000,000+

3. 170,000,000+ 

We will consider Environmental, social and Economical dimensions of impact by measuring different indicators including:

-Reduced CO2 emission by xx%

-Reduced energy consumption for production by xx%

-Reduced toxic material & heavy metals by xx%

-xx number of marine animals saved

-Reduced plastic pollution entering the ocean by xx kgs

-Increased public awareness by reaching to xx individuals

Next year: 

+ Securing international pilot customers

+ expanding the team

Next fiver years: 

+Expanding to at least 3 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean

+ Saving at least 2 million tons of CO2 emission 

- Access to decision makers

- Small team

- Limited funding

- Market segment prioritization

Increase sales

Establish strategic partnerships 

Participate in relevant conferences and contests (such as this one!) 

Raise external funding and attract investments

Our plan is to start in with countries that already have initiated relevant policies. 

Latin America and the Caribbean – home to the Amazon Basin, the Patagonian highlands, and a dense concentration of coral reefs – is incredibly rich in biodiversity.  

Governments around the region have been delivering bold pollution-beating policies. Antigua and Barbuda was the first country in the region to ban plastic bags in 2016. Soon after, Colombia passed a similar ban, and in 2017 applied a tax to large plastic bags, while ordering changes to their design with the aim of achieving greater resistance and reusability.

The measure has helped reduce plastic bag consumption by 35 per cent and raise a total of 10,460 million Colombian pesos (about $3.6 million).

Colombia’s neighbor, Panama, became at the beginning of 2018 the first country in Central America to ban polyethylene bags. The country is also drawing up a national plan to combat marine litter.

Costa Rica adopted a national strategy to drastically reduce the use of disposable plastics by 2021, while in the Caribbean, Belize, Bahamas and Bermuda have passed or are drafting laws to eradicate single-use plastics.

Ecuador aims to transform the remote Galápagos Islands into a plastics-free archipelago.

In Peru, several bills on the issue of plastic bags are debated in Congress. The most recent, prepared by the Government, seeks to reduce the consumption of this product by 35 per cent during the first year of implementation.

7 remarkable individuals experienced in research, engineering & entrepreneurship. 

4 full-time and 3 part-time staff

Because, we have a proven track-record, the right expertise, shared values and working towards the same vision! 

The core team consists of 4 remarkable individuals experienced in research, engineering & entrepreneurship. 

We have perfect gender equality: 50% female & 50% male

+ Max & Allen (the founders) have been selected by Forbes magazine as the top 30 most influential entrepreneurs and are featured on the prestigious +Forbes 30under30 list.

+Veronika is the Technical director and holds PhD in Biochemical engineering.

+Caroline works with PR bringing her experience from Unicef & Doctors without Borders. 

Our key partners include:

Manufacturer, raw material supplier, academic partners (KTH, KIT), supporters (Energimyndigheten-Swedish Energy Agency, European Climate KIC, Ignite Sweden and Think Beyond Plastic Foundation)

We have a Business to Business (B2B) model by offering PlasticFri products to any company/organizations (in private & public sector) looking to reduce their environmental footprint, move towards circular economy, reach CSR targets, enhance their brand image by showing their customers that they care!

Selling products and having several revenue streams ensures the financial sustainability.

PlasticFri can be produced using the conventional manufacturing facilities. This makes our technology highly scalable and cost efficient to operate.

Moreover, selling B2B and the fact that we have different products makes it easy to scale to other markets both nationally and internationally.

*** REVENUE MODEL ***

Our main revenue streams come from direct sales, wholesale to resellers as well as co-branding. 

We believe DB Group can help us overcome several barriers including access to decision makers, coaching to understand the local market as well as funding to run a pilot project.

Shopping mall chains

Airports

Supermarket chains

Brand owners

Restaurants and cafe chains

Banks

Environmental organizations

CSR departments in public and private organizations

Any organization reduce their carbon footprint and enhance their brand image