A Vancouver, B.C.-based startup making biodegradable plastics out of wood pulp has raised up to $5 million from Brazil’s Suzano Ventures, the investment arm of a manufacturing giant turning farmed eucalyptus trees into pulp.
Bioform Technologies is producing a bioplastic to replace single-use plastics made from fossil fuels. Its product can be heated and pressed or “thermoformed” into different shapes such as cups or coffee lids, or thin sheets of Bioform plastic can be sealed into envelopes or pouches, or turned into garbage bags.
The startup analyzed its climate impacts and found its product generates 80% less carbon dioxide compared to traditional plastic at commercial scale. The manufacturing process can use existing pulp mill machinery to make rolls of plastic.
After it’s used, the material can be recycled as paper or composted at home.
“Our goal is to produce sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics at the speed of paper and at the cost of plastic,” said CEO Chris Clark in a statement.
The company launched in 2021 using technology developed by University of British Columbia professors Jordan MacKenzie and Mark Martinez. They are the co-founders of Bioform and MacKenzie is its chief technology officer. The company has 12 employees.
Bioform aims to begin commercial production by 2027.
The startup raised an earlier $2.4 million seed round, and previously landed a $1.2 million grant. It participated in the Creative Destruction Lab incubator’s 2020-21 cohort.
Plastic pollution is fouling the world’s oceans and other ecosystems, prompting recent global efforts to address the crisis. Other researcher and entrepreneurs are likewise working on environmentally friendly alternatives. Researchers at the University of Washington, for example, are developing a sustainable, biodegradable plastic made from blue-green algae called spirulina.
