The following is a translation from an article in the German media outlet "forum. Nachhaltig Wirtschaften" ("forum. sustainable business"). Find the original here.
The start-up Polybion from Mexico is one of the five finalists in the ISC3 Innovation Challenge 2024 on the topic “Innovations in Sustainable Chemistry for Textiles” – We present the start-ups in an exclusive series. In October, they will pitch their ideas at the ISC3 Investor Forum as part of the Impact Festival in Frankfurt.
Most consumer goods made from leather are still traditionally of animal origin but are now often also produced artificially from crude oil. Today, both production processes face numerous challenges in terms of sustainability and the circular economy. They generally require a high amount of energy, often aggressive chemical treatments and recycling is hardly possible. With its next-generation material made from fruit waste, the Mexican start-up Polybion has developed an animal-free and ecologically valuable alternative. Importantly, the so-called next-generation materials can only have a significant impact as direct substitutes for conventional products such as leather, silk, fur, down or wool if they are affordable, competitive and available on a mass scale. And this is exactly what Polybion promises with its leather alternative Celium.
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“We use locally produced agricultural and industrial fruit waste as a raw material for the production of a more sustainable leather alternative.”Premium cultivated cellulose contributes to the circular economy and conserves resources at the same time. To make the high-quality material available in sufficient quantities, the start-up has built the world's first industrial plant for the production of biomaterial made from cellulose cultivated by bacteria. The innovative biomaterial is cultivated by feeding bacteria with fruit waste. The sustainable and aesthetic leather alternative can be dyed, embossed and tanned using existing infrastructure and has a lower environmental impact than conventional (synthetic) leather. Due to its biological nature, each piece of Celium is unique and unmistakable – like a fingerprint.
With this innovative idea for a more sustainable leather industry, Polybion has applied for the Innovation Challenge 2024 of the International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (ISC3), which is endowed with 25,000 euros. The 23-member international jury of experts nominated the start-up as one of 5 finalists for its contribution to Sustainable Chemistry. They will pitch their ideas at the ISC3 Investor Forum, which will take place this year as part of the Impact Festival on October 30 and 31 in Frankfurt. The Innovation Challenge is part of the annual Investor Forum, with which ISC3 is bringing together international start-ups, investors, scientists and decision-makers for the sixth time. This year, the central question of the international competition for start-ups worldwide was: “Which innovative ideas in Sustainable Chemistry have the potential to improve the textile sector?” More than 50 start-ups from 30 countries applied. Their answers ranged from environmentally friendly production, alternative business models, waste avoidance to recycling, alternative materials and raw materials, as in the case of Polybion.
Polybion uses the natural ability of bacteria to convert agro-industrial waste – in this case fruit waste – into cellulose cultivated by bacteria for the production of Celium. The controlled biofabrication process is carried out in a sterile, controlled environment. As a basic building block of Celium, the separated cellulose forms an exceptionally complex structure, like that of materials such as leather. Further advantages in terms of sustainability include a CO2 footprint that is up to 50 percent smaller than that of leather and artificial leather production, the generation of the required energy via a photovoltaic system and the compostability of the products at the end of their life cycle.
“Polybion has developed a unique method for the production of biotextiles based on cellulose cultivated by bacteria, which also offers a way to utilise food waste from the agricultural industry. The start-up not only provides a valuable alternative to conventional fabrics and leather, but also helps to solve local environmental problems and create sources of income for local farmers,”says Dr. Alexis Bazzanella, Director of the ISC3 Innovation Hub. With Celium, the start-up has the potential to make an important contribution to a more sustainable textile industry and impressively demonstrates how Sustainable Chemistry can play a decisive role in the transformation towards more resource-efficient textile production.
