In Washington, outdoor lifestyle brand REI Co-op has released two new athletic shoes featuring biobased and recycled materials. The Traverse shoe features a midsole made from algae-based foam developed by REI partner Bloom. Senior product manager for footwear at REI Bennett Grimes says the material has both performance and sustainability benefits. “The cool thing is […]
In San Francisco, JINS Eyewear has released a new line of biodegradable sunglasses. Launched in the United States as part of its JINS&SUN brand, the frames use M49, a bioplastic developed by Italy’s Mazzucchelli to replace acetate. M49 contains “a high amount” of plant-based material, including cotton fiber and wood pulp, and can be quickly […]
In California, clothing brand Vollebak has been growing black algae in ponds to be used as dyes in T-shirts, enabling the garment to absorb CO2 for as much as a century. Traditionally, black garments are dyed with synthetic chemicals made from carbon black extracted from tar sands, a process with a sizable environmental impact. […]
In Thailand, biobased polylactic acid maker NatureWorks has received final permission from parent companies Cargill and GC International Corporation to build a $600 million, 75,000 metric tons per year production facility. The site at the Nakhon Sawan Biocomplex will produce lactic acid, lactide, and biopolymer. Construction is set to begin in the second quarter of […]
In Brazil, chemical company Dow, Inc. has announced that a cosmetics brand has joined its Project Ybá initiative aimed at sustainably extracting bioactives from the Amazon in a way that benefits local communities. Natura, the first commercial collaborator to join the project, will support the development of the local cooperative. It will also contribute its […]
In Boston, newly public synthetic biology firm Ginkgo Bioworks will undertake strain engineering services for Bolt Threads. Under the terms of the agreement, Gingko will use its platform to improve the “sustainability, efficiency and cost-effectiveness” of Bolt Threads’ b-silk protein manufacturing process. b-silk is currently available in premium product lines like Vegamour hair care products—which […]
In Shanghai, a startup is claiming that its fiber made from the Kapok tree is the most sustainable textile on the market. Kapok trees, which can be found widely in South America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia, produce large numbers of seeds that come protected by a fluffy fiber that has been used widely in […]
In Italy, a partnership between Kering Eyewear and Zeiss Sunlens has successfully developed sun lenses from biobased materials. The new lenses will be used with the Kering Eyewear FW21 line of glasses. The lenses have also been certified by European Commission’s REDCert program, although details on the raw materials were not disclosed. “Kering Eyewear and […]
In Spain, the BIOGEARS project has developed biodegradable ropes from biobased materials that it will now test out for cultivation purposes at mussel and seaweed farms. The ropes are being tested at integrated multi-trophic aquaculture sites both offshore and in sheltered areas. The mussel tests involve seeding juvenile muscles onto the test ropes and attaching […]
In California, startup NovoNutrients has raised $9 million to advance its technology that converts carbon dioxide into animal-free proteins. Roughly half the funds came from new investors Happiness Capital, E2JDJ and Marinya Capital and existing investors IndieBio and Grantham Environmental Trust. Approximately $4.3 million came from non-dilutive funding sources. NovoNutrients says it will use the […]
