Biodegradable bioplastics is an important frontier for reducing landfill waste and protecting the environment. And now there’s a startup with an innovative approach: turning plants into plastic.

‍What’s happening:‍

• Sanford, North Carolina based bioplastics manufacturing company PlantSwitch has raised $7.7M USD in a new financing round
  
• The round was led by NexPoint Capital
  

The big idea:‍

• PlantSwitch upcycles agricultural residue into a plant based resin that is capable of making a wide variety of different single use plastics
  
• The agricultural residue that PlantSwitch utilizes are all natural byproducts of food production
  
• The resulting plant based resin can easily be integrated by existing plastic manufacturing companies and has an extremely low cost given it is from upcycled plant materials
  

Going deeper:‍

• Many sustainable plastic manufacturers struggle to have their materials be able to compost or leave behind zero microplastics due to the inputs they use
  
• By utilizing ingredients such as rice hulls and wheat straws, PlantSwitch is able to take advantage of plants that have no true alternative purpose and are highly compostable
  
• PlantSwitch currently has partnerships with Sysco and Gordon Food Services to provide them with their plant based plastics
  

The intrigue:‍

• The United States Department of Agriculture recently gave PlantSwitch a $4.94M USD grant
  

By the numbers:‍

• Within 12 months, PlantSwitch’s materials are capable of being fully composted without leaving behind any microplastics in the soil
  
• Many materials that are supposed to be compostable are actually made from polyactic acid and can only be composted at specialized facilities that are capable of providing a composting process which requires temperatures above 140 degrees Fahrenheit for 60 days