3rd Prize BIOPOLYMER Award 2024

GreenFoilNature GmbH (Germany)

Innovation: Algae-based degradation regulator for bioplastics

Should a bioplastic decompose very slowly, over years as in the experiment documented here, or within minutes? The startup GreenFoilNature has set itself the task of "programming" this into plastics, using proven technologies from pharmaceutical research.

Jury statement: Degradation regulators for algae-based bioplastics

Tobias Irkens and Philipp Wisse were awarded third prize for their groundbreaking degradation regulator for bioplastics. With their product, the founders of GreenFoilNature GmbH not only prove that the lifespan of biopolymers can be "programmed" astonishingly well, but also demonstrate how fundamentally new approaches can emerge when experiences from one scientific discipline are transferred to another. The entrepreneurs entered the plastics industry as career changers: After Irkens, a licensed pharmacist, and Wisse, a biomedical engineer, successfully developed algae-based patches for mouth ulcers several years ago, they came up with the idea of making the carrier matrix used for this purpose thinner. The result was a water-soluble biofilm. To adapt its durability to the requirements of medical treatments, the idea of the degradation regulator was born. To do this, the two transferred proven principles from pharmaceutical research to the world of plastics. "If we succeed in making medications work in the intestine without them having been released and activated beforehand on their way from the mouth through the body, for example by saliva, stomach acid or body heat, then it will also be possible to trigger bioplastics in a similar way," says Irkens, describing the initial considerations.

This approach proved so promising that the two inventors founded their joint company in January 2024. At that time, they had already developed an initial toolkit of algae-based regulators that, when incorporated into bioplastics as powders or granules during compounding, specifically control their degradation. Irkens and Wisse are not content with simply influencing the rates of degradation processes in bioplastics. Their stated goal is also to "program" a wide variety of trigger factors, such as humidity, pH values, or temperatures, into the material. The toolkit is intended to expand further in many directions.

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