What does it take to scale biomaterials?

12/10/24 • 17 min

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In this episode of the Circular Economy Show we discuss Arda Biomaterials' journey of transforming beer by-products into sustainable materials. Brett Cotten, co-founder at Arda, details the company's origins, challenges, and successes, including raising pre-seed investment in 2023 and scaling operations. Amy Tsang from The Mills Fabrica highlights their 360-degree support for innovators, emphasising investment, collaboration, and showcasing technologies. Both discuss the importance of scalability, impact measurement, and the commercial viability of biomaterials, with Brett noting the potential of chemistry-based approaches and Amy highlighting innovative startups including Epoch Biodesign.

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If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review or a comment on Spotify or YouTube. Your support helps us to spread the word about the circular economy.

Previous Episode

What happened at INC-5? With Ellen MacArthur and Christiana Figueres

In this special episode of The Circular Economy Show, we’re sharing a conversation between Ellen MacArthur and Christiana Figueres from the climate podcast Outrage + Optimism.

Christiana was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 2010 to 2016, where she oversaw the delivery of the historic Paris Agreement. In this episode, the pair reflect on the outcomes of the INC-5 negotiations for a global plastics treaty, the role businesses play in addressing plastic packaging pollution, and why a global, legally-binding treaty is necessary to address this global challenge.

Listen to episode 165 to find out more about why the INC-5 negotiations matter, or visit the Ellen MacArthur Foundation website.

Find out more about a circular economy for plastic.

Check out the Outrage + Optimism podcast.

Next Episode

2024 in review: A year exploring the circular economy

Join Fin, Lou and Pippa from the Circular Economy Show as we look back at a year in the circular economy.

In this episode, the team shares highlights from this year’s show, and talks about some of the moments you might have missed.

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Explore the episodes discussed:

Ep 159: How to build a nature-positive circular economy for Europe

Read the paper.

Ep 157: Inside the world of industrial symbiosis

Ep 149: Scaling refill and return with GoUnpackaged

We also mentioned our episode with Vincent from Dunia Bora - who features in episode 150: Creating nature-positive nutrition from cacti with Dunia Bora.

Watch the Redesigning Food Series, which Fin mentioned.