Victoria will join the panel ‘Net Zero Strategies: Materials Innovation Aiding the Race to Decarbonisation’ with leaders from MCKINSEY & COMPANY, SMURFIT KAPPA, DOW and LANZATECH at the Rethinking Materials Summit in May 16-17.
LOLIWARE Inc is a materials tech company, based in US, focused on replacing single-use plastics with seaweed-derived alternatives. LOLIWARE’s SEA Technology®, (Seaweed-derived, Emission-avoiding, Alternatives to plastic) uses regenerative resins derived from seaweed, which are currently being applied to single-use items and packaging such as straws, cold cups, utensils, and films.
With polymers, fabrics, metals, and other materials accounting for nearly 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the materials sector must radically decarbonise. In your opinion, which actors are leading the way?
The push towards decarbonisation in the materials industry involves various players, each contributing to the overall decarbonisation efforts. While research institutions are primarily focused on the early-stage development of sustainable materials and chemical recycling, scalability and economic feasibility are often not prioritized in academic settings.
Innovative startups are leading the charge in developing materials with lower or virtually zero environmental impact, such as mycelium-based plastic substitutes and synthetic fibre substitutes (Ecovative, MycoWorks, BoltThreads), algae-based alternatives (LOLIWARE, NotPLA, Sway), tree-based fibres (Nanollose, Paptic, TreeToTextile), and plant-based fibres (Circular Systems, Orange Fiber). Additionally, these startups are driving process innovation and replacing energy-intensive and GHG-generating processes with cleaner alternatives. For example, some companies produce cement via direct carbon dioxide capture (Carbon Cure, Calera, Solidia Technologies), while others use enzyme-driven plastic recycling methods (Carbios, BioCellection, Genecis).
Governments also play a pivotal role in driving the shift to low-carbon materials through policies such as carbon pricing, renewable energy mandates, and green procurement requirements.
How are new materials and technologies helping to decarbonise the manufacturing of packaging and consumer goods? Which solutions are viable right now, and which long-term vision solutions should brands, converters, and mills invest in?
Novel materials, especially technologies, are crucial in reducing the massive carbon footprint associated with packaging and consumer goods production. One of the most promising approaches to reduce the negative impact of these industries is to use bio-renewable, low-carbon or carbon-negative materials, as well as recycled materials aiming to replace petroleum-derived plastics and virgin paper products.
Novel manufacturing techniques, such as additive manufacturing, 3D printing and continuous manufacturing, show promise in reducing waste generation, manufacturing steps and energy loss associated with batch process inefficiencies. Implementing data analytics and virtual models of objects or systems can reduce the experimental budget and enable optimization of production processes, thus reducing the need for physical prototypes.
All new developments should follow the main principles of green chemistry, which include optimizing for reduced waste generation, atom economy, energy efficiency, safer chemicals and end-of-life scenarios. It is essential that materials innovation and the development of novel processes enabling circular economy solutions to become the investment focus for key stakeholders in the packaging and consumer goods industry.
You’ll be joining us for the summit in London in May. What topics on the agenda are you most looking forward to hearing, and are there any connections you want to make from a networking perspective?
Victoria: I’m excited to hear about the latest developments and innovations in functional materials and next-generation textiles and connecting with industry leaders and innovators.
Sea: I’m looking forward to meeting other packaging innovators who are also working with AI for new materials discovery and meeting new corporate partners interested in partnering with LOLIWARE to bring seaweed materials into the mainstream.
Meet Victoria and Sea at the Rethinking Materials Summit in London this May 16-17.
Join the Rethinking Materials Summit and get your 10 % discount with the code BPN 10
Rethinking Materials Innovation and Investment Summit,
May 16-17, London
Scaling Materials Innovation for Decarbonisation and a Circular Economy
Rethinking Materials is an international innovation and investment summit that showcases and connects pioneering companies reimagining how materials in consumer products and packaging are produced, consumed, repurposed, and financed.
With a focus on materials innovation mitigating carbon emissions from textiles, packaging or durable goods industries, we’ll explore the technologies and material alternatives reducing our reliance on ‘incumbents’ such as petrochemical, virgin forest, and animal-based materials. The summit will examine barriers to the adoption and scale up of new materials, highlighting opportunities for greater collaboration and advancement across value chains.
Now in its third year, the summit presents perspectives from brands and corporate leaders facing big questions on sustainability, business continuity, and regulatory requirements; converters and manufacturers sourcing viable, scalable, and sustainable new solutions; start-ups and producers developing innovative technologies and exploring new markets; and investors scouting the next ground-breaking innovations.
Bringing together an audience of C-Suite and Director-level decision makers including CEOs/CTOs/CSOs and VPs of Innovation/R&D/Investment, with an emphasis on thought leadership, targeted 1-1 networking and start-up pitching, this is a rare opportunity to dig deeper into debates surrounding:
Net Zero Strategies: How can materials innovation aid the race to decarbonisation?
Supply Chain Transformation: Rethinking the building blocks for sustainable materials
Regulation & Legislation: How to comply with fast-changing legislation
Achieving Circularity: Recycling, reuse, replacement – what will make the greatest impact?
Enhanced Performance: Developments in barrier properties, durability, and functionality
Industry Symbiosis: Capitalising on cross sector collaboration and waste stream valorisation
Accelerated R&D: Leveraging big-data and AI for new materials discovery
Designing for Sustainability: End-to-end product innovation to achieve ESG objectives
Feedstock Sustainability & Security: The impact of global events on material innovation
Financing Growth: Investment and partnership strategies to accelerate scale-up
Routes to Faster Commercialisation: Bridging the gap from lab to market
Agile Innovation: Discovering new applications and markets for today’s solutions
The full programme, speaking faculty and delegate registration details are available now
Rethink Events has been producing thought leadership summits around the world for over a decade. These include the Future Food-Tech Series in London, New York, San Francisco and Singapore; the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit Series in London, Amsterdam, New York, San Francisco, Sao Paulo and Singapore; and the World Waste to Energy & Resources Summit in London.