Healthcare is flooded with disposable plastic. In American healthcare facilities, Over 2,800 tons Plastic packaging and products are thrown away every day.
Few people are more aware than Eddie Yu. At the starting of the Pandemic Yu founded a company that created disposable masks. One day his niece was with him while recycling, and she asked him if his mask was also recyclable.
“I told her that we couldn’t actually process the mask,” said Techcrunch. “He just interrupted me and said:” Oh, you then do a lot of rubbish every day. “
The words of a little girl got stuck with Yu and after the sale of the masking company in 2021 he decided to repair himself.
In order to tame the plastic problem with the one -time use of Healthcare, the latest company Yu, Okosix, has developed a latest biodegradable polymer. Okosix is a part of the Battlefield startup and will look at TechCrunch Disrupt this month in San Francisco.
Okosix mixes various compounds, including cellulose, chitosan from shell shells, wax and reserved material. The result is cheaper than political acid (Pla), widely used biodegradable plastic, with functionality, which is “the same or even better than Plan,” said Yu.
Yu said that among the plastics the term “biodegradability” is often improperly used. Some require very specific conditions for decomposition, while others simply break down into micro- or nanoplastics.
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“We have international certificates to prove that the material has disappeared within six months,” said Yu.
Yu said Okosix starts with face masks, but also plans to make surgical dresses, diapers and sanitary napkins. “We want to use safe, non-plastic material to replace fossil plastics for disposable products.”
Although the company has not yet carried out a formal evaluation of the life cycle, Yu said that the Okosix material should have a carbon trail 90% lower than in the case of polypropylene, commonly used plastic.
Okosix sells its material to third parties, which then turn it into various products. “At the moment our business model is like gore-tex,” said Yu. “We do not produce ready -made products, but we create a layer, produce raw materials, and then work with companies such as 3M.” He added that branding can turn into a significant a part of the company, similar to Gore-Tex.
The startup collected $ 2.3 million, including investments of founders and other angels investors.