UBQ Material Converting household waste into sustainable bio-based materials

Summary

Over 2 billion tons of household waste are produced globally each year – that is 50 tons of waste produced every single second. The average European is responsible for 480 kg of waste every year. Only 16% of global municipal solid waste is recycled, with over 70% of waste ending up in landfills or openly dumped next to rivers, lakes or oceans. Nearly 100 million people around the world live on or near landfills. This crisis continues to grow with waste production increasing and estimated to double by 2050. Landfills not only create underwater leachates and natural environmental hazards but generate 20% of the world’s methane, a greenhouse gas 86x more potent than carbon dioxide. Reframing household waste from a liability to a material asset has the potential to save massive natural resources, support a cleaner environment and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions

UBQ Materials has developed a revolutionary solution that converts residual municipal solid waste, destined for landfills, into a novel raw material, the UBQ™ material. Heterogeneous waste streams including organics like food waste, garden trimmings, paper and cardboard, alongside mixed plastics are converted into an entirely homogeneous thermoplastic material that can be used in existing plastic industries to create sustainable end-products.

The conversion of waste into UBQ™ is a clean, energy efficient and waterless process. The resulting UBQ™ material provides the market with a climate-positive and cost competitive alternative to conventional oil-based resins.
The company is expanding with a new production plant in the Netherlands which will have an annual production capacity of over 80,000 tons of UBQ™, diverting over 100,000 tons of household waste and employing 150 FTE’s. Completion of the facility is planned for early 2023.
UBQ™ is currently implemented in plastic parts across industries, from retail, logistics and construction to 3D printing. Amongst its clients, UBQ is working with Mercedes-Benz, McDonald’s, PepsiCo and ABinBev.

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Web resources:	https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/836051
Start date:	01-12-2018
End date:	31-03-2019
Total budget - Public funding:	71 429,00 Euro - 50 000,00 Euro

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Original description

2bn tons of waste are produced globally per year. An average European leaves behind 480 kg of household waste every year . 99% of things that we buy are sent to trash within 6 months. 50 tons of household waste are produced every second. 95% of waste produced globally is estimated not to be recycled. 80% of waste is dumped into open landfills next to rivers, lakes or oceans. 100m people live on or near landfills all around the world. Moreover, the waste production is increasing—by 2030 the amount of household waste will almost double to 3bn tons annually. Landfills generate not only CO2 but methane, which is 100X more dangerous, dioxins & furans. Utilizing waste as a material asset will open doors to massive savings of natural resources.
We have developed a revolutionary solution that converts residual municipal solid waste, destined for landfills, into a novel patented UBQ Material. The heterogeneous mixed waste stream (including the organics fractions like food waste, garden trimmings, paper, cardboard, diapers, dirty plastics, as well as packaging materials) is converted into an entirely homogeneous material that can be used in existing plastic processing equipment.
Our solution enables industry to reuse waste materials over & over again. By converting the waste into this commercially viable & valuable material, we provide the missing link between waste disposal through to new product manufacturing, moving from a linear extraction and consumption system to a truly circular economy.
We estimate that the global plastic industry can implement UBQ Material blended together with virgin or recycled resins at 10% rate. One 10 ton/hour production plant will produce ~70,000 tons of UBQ Material per year. Once we have industrial-grade throughput of 20 ton/hour in 2020, we plan to roll out 1 plant per year, reaching a total capacity of at least 1.4m ton/year within 8 years. We are aiming at 320+ FTEs by 2024 with €160m in revenues from UBQ Material sales.