Aeropowder tackles the plastic problem with feather based packaging

by Startacus Admin

Aeropowder is an award winning startup, who's first product pluumo, is the world’s first feather-based thermal packaging material.

Packaging is a problem. It is choking the life out of the oceans, literally, and can take between 450 and 1,000 years to break down when dumped in landfills. Although we have known these things for quite some time, we have only very recently begun to do anything about it.

Even now, most steps towards reducing plastic waste seem more placation than solution. So, as with multiple things we have written about recently, it falls once again to startups and the next generation of entrepreneur to start working towards a brighter and less plasticy future.

London-based Aeropowder is a startup that looked at a chicken one day and thought, ‘I want to pack deliveries in you’. And so they did.

With thousands of tonnes of ‘waste’ feathers generated by the poultry industry every week, Aeropowder decided that instead of being incinerated as a waste by-product, these feathers could be used to make an impact on plastic waste.

With their first product, pluumo, they are replacing polystyrene in packaging that requires thermal insulation. After cleaning and processing, the aforementioned surplus feathers are put inside a biodegradable cover and it’s ready to go. Pluumo lining can be stored more easily than polystyrene, since it lies flat, is at least as good in terms of thermal insulation, and absorbs any condensation from the items it is protecting.

In October, Aeropowder won the Green Alley Award 2018, with its cash prize of €24,000, and deservedly so. Aeropowder is tackling a huge problem with their pluumo packaging, and it is just the first of their products. We look forward to seeing when else they come up with.

If you liked reading about Aeropowder, you might want to read up about meat wholesaler Ethical Butcher who are looking to revolutionise the UK meat market with a their carbon negative craft meat. 

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• #packaging
• #sustainability
• #plastic
• #aeropowder
• #pluumo
• #waste
• #environment

Published on: 28th December 2018