Hot, Superhot, Uberhot: The leading lights in renewable Chemicals & Biomaterials make big moves

Among the newest adopters, we’re reporting this week that cactus leather slip-ons prove G.H. Bass isn’t “loafing about” on sustainability. In addition Tarform has revved up use of renewables for its electric motorcycles, using a flaxseed and biobased resin composite dyed with algae-based pigments. Finally, Germany’s Playmobil will soon expand its Wiltopia bioplastic range of play sets to include a Tropical Jungle Playground and a Paddling Tour with River Dolphins. That’s set to launch in 2023.

Partnerships? We’ve seen a lot of movement — over in the Netherlands,  Be Good Friends and TotalEnergies Corbion formally entered into a long-term collaborative arrangement for application development and supply of TotalEnergies Corbion’s Luminy PLA. and two companies that were prominent at ABLC NEXT at the end of October, Lygos and Ginkgo, had a joint announce. Lygos tapped Gingko to optimize organism and more efficiently produce Lygos’ organic acid targets

In Boston, Gingko Bioworks has partnered with Berkeley, California’s Lygos to optimize production of biobased specialty chemicals. 

New product concepts have been visible this week, Dubai Design Weak being one of the drivers. Over in the Emirates, design consortium/incubator and registered “FabLab” Tashkeel showcased furniture made from date waste and a floor lamp made from fish scales Macroalgae plastics startup announces €2-million seed round 

We’ve seen a nice move in financing. Also in the Netherlands, Biotic has raised €2 million in a seed round that the bioplastics startup will use to build a plant, optimize processes, and increase production capacity.