Bioplastics take stage at Nike-backed green technology project
27/01/2015
Launch Project founders Nike, NASA, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Department of State chose 10 innovators based on their ideas' potential to have social, environmental and economic impacts on the world.
Two of the ideas were based around bioplastics, which Nike could potentially use for footwear. At the Launch Summit, when the partners met to discuss textile innovation, Nike’s vice-president of sustainable business and innovation, Hannah Jones, Nike’s said: “About 60% of the environmental footprint of a pair of Nike shoes is embedded in the materials used to make them. When you multiply that across our business, and across the industry, it’s clear that innovation in sustainable materials is a huge opportunity, not just for Nike, but for the world.”
Michael Waggoner from Grow Plastics has come up with a technology for producing products from bioplastics that he says perform better than solid oil-based plastics, and use less than half the material, lowering both cost and CO2 emissions.
Molly Morse from Mango Materials has produced bioplastics from waste methane gas in a process she says is economically and functionally competitive with oil-based plastics.
During the event, the innovators presented to Launch Council members, who represent the business, investment, international development, policy, science and sustainability sectors.
Other innovations included BioAmber, a chemical company that combines industrial biotechnology and chemical catalysis to convert renewable feedstocks into chemicals for use in products including plastics and polyurethanes; and Forward Water, a technology that reportedly allows more effective, low cost, low energy treatment of high salinity wastewater.
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