How can startups and corporations work together to power the transition to a more circular economy?
That’s the question that kicked off the Circularity Challenge, a six-month Greentown Launch program designed to accelerate partnerships between startups and corporates to bring innovative technologies to market. Greentown teamed up with BASF and Stanley Black & Decker to find the top startups from across the world that are capable of disrupting the recycling industry and plastics and energy storage value chains.
Those startups are American Battery Metals Corporation, Circularise, Corumat, Interface Polymers, and Nexus Fuels. At the Feb. 6 Circularity Challenge Final Showcase, the startups shared lightning pitches and their program experiences with a crowd of more than 250.
The speaking program began with introductions from Greentown Executive Vice President Ryan Dings, BASF President of Bioscience Research Peter Eckes, Stanley Black & Decker CTO Mark Maybury, and MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics Program Manager Suzanne Greene.
“When we think about circularity, we have to think across the entire value chain … startups are absolutely essential,” Eckes remarked.
“Circularity is core to what we believe at Greentown Labs, and with this program, it’s core to what we do,” Dings said.
Meet the startups:
American Battery Metals Corporation, based in Nevada, has developed a full recycling process that can recover over 95 percent of each of the elemental metals that are integral to manufacturing new batteries. Read more here.
Circularise, based in The Hague, Netherlands, brings together detailed information about a product from every stage of the supply chain without compromising privacy, giving both businesses and customers insight into a product’s sustainability. Read more here.
Corumat, based in California, micro-engineers bioplastics to reduce plastic waste.
Interface Polymers, based in Loughborough, England, addresses the roadblock that makes multilayer plastics—think bubble wrap and pre-sealed food packaging—difficult to recycle. Read more here.
Nexus Fuels, based in Georgia, turns the most difficult-to-recycle plastics into fuel or virgin plastic rather than sending them to landfills. Read more here.
Stay tuned for soon-to-be-announced partnerships and collaborations between BASF and the program participants!
Greentown Labs is a community of bold, passionate entrepreneurs creating solutions for today’s biggest climate and environmental challenges. Located in Somerville, Mass., Greentown Labs is the largest cleantech incubator in North America, operating a 100,000 sq. ft. campus comprised of prototyping and wet lab space, shared office space, a machine shop, electronics lab, and a curated suite of programs and resources. Greentown Labs is home to more than 100 startups and has supported more than 250 since its inception.