UK biodegradable and compostable plastic specialist Polymateria has received £15 million in funding from impact investing platform Planet First Partners (PFP) to fund the roll-out its ‘biotransformation’ technology. Polymateria’s biotransformation technology (or additive) redesigns polymers that make up plastics so the environment can break it down if it escapes a recycling facility. It then turns plastic waste into a wax-like substance, which the company said is no longer harmful to the environment. From this point, the wax is mineralised by naturally occurring bacteria and fungi, with the resulting films and rigids able to fully biodegrade within two years, leaving behind no microplastics.
Polymateria has been spun out of Imperial College London. The new funds will allow Polymateria to significantly expand its global footprint, including its laboratories at Imperial College London’s I-HUB and rapidly grow its R&D team of polymer scientists, chemists and biologists from around the world, as well as increasing capacity in prototyping facilities, manufacturing and sales to meet significant demand for its technology in the market.
A Sunday Times report (27 July) claimed that sportswear group Puma will be using Polymateria’s additive in the production of 160 million plastic bags it uses each year. According to the newspaper, they will be on sale in southeast Asia in September and Britain next year. However, Puma did not respond to a request for comment to the newspaper to confirm the claims. In October last year, Polymateria announced a partnership with Clariant, one of the world’s leading specialty chemical companies. The ambition of the partnership is to bring Biotransformation technology to market in South East Asia, the main global source of “fugitive” plastic, which is plastic that escapes into the natural environment.
Source: Bio Market Insights
Global site 
Finnish site