BASF and Greentown Labs, with support from Stanley Black & Decker, have selected five start-up companies to participate in their Circularity Challenge, a six-month program intended on advancing innovative solutions to permit a circular economy. The groups will focus on disrupting value chains surrounding plastics, energy storage and recycling.
The challenge will feature six two-day workshops, as well as an event, hosted by partners in 2020, for the selected start-ups to share their progress, accomplishments and results.
The Circularity Challenge received almost 100 applicants from more than 20 countries. The selected start-ups, who will receive $25,000 in grant funding, among other opportunities, are as follows:
- Courmat (California, United States): a material science company working to eliminate plastic waste and battle against climate change
- Nexus Fuels (Georgia, United States): a plant, commercially scaled at 50 tons a day, that converts waste plastics to feedstocks, which can be converted back to virgin plastics
- Circularise (The Hague, Netherlands): a blockchain transparency solution that guarantees proof of sustainability, circular economy and recycling practices for businesses to avoid greenwashing and maintain a high sustainability standard
- Interface Polymers (Loughborough, England): a company focused on becoming a leader in compatibility and surface functionality solutions for the polyolefin industry, and whose Polarfin additives offer the potential to transform performance and cost competitiveness in the plastic industry
- American Battery Metals Corporation (Nevada, United States): an American-owned company working to meet global battery metals supply chain challenges through original and sustainable solutions
“Developing sustainable solutions to address global challenges is ingrained in our BASF strategy,” said Peter Eckes, president, bioscience research and regional research representative North America at BASF. “By collaborating with these five companies alongside Greentown Labs and our customer Stanley Black & Decker in the Circularity Challenge program, we strive to further sustainable innovation in the circular economy related to plastics, battery materials digital tools.”
