B’ZEOS: Using Science and Seaweed to Tackle our Plastic Pollution Problem
B’ZEOS is working to replace single-use plastic with natural and sustainable solutions. We caught up with Founder, Guy Maurice, and Technology Lead, Adriana Kyvik, to find out how they’re using seaweed to shake up the packaging industry.
Describe your company in a single sentence.
B’ZEOS develops innovative seaweed-based packaging solutions, which are home-compostable, bio-based as well as bio-digestible.
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
The fact that we’re tackling such a big problem: plastic pollution. Around 275 million tonnes of plastic waste are generated each year and only 14% of that is currently recycled.
What are you and your team working on at the moment?
We’re currently working on pilot scale production of a flexible film which is seaweed–based. We believe that seaweed is a great biomass source because it’s very efficient at sequestering carbon, it grows very quickly and doesn’t require fresh water or pesticides. We’re also busy working on other applications to extend our product portfolio, like using our formulation for paper coating applications.
What’s your company’s primary goal?
We want to replace petroleum-based plastics in applications where using home-compostable materials make sense. This might be food packaging or other types of protective packaging. We’re particularly targeting materials that end up in landfill or being incinerated – or where materials are contaminated by food or simply too small to be recycled. The main component of our materials are seaweed biopolymers, but we also add functional additives and plasticisers – all bio-based – to tailor the final material properties.
Tell us about one of your open innovation success stories.
We just finalized our second collaboration with fellow Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley member, Nestlé. We first partnered with them in 2019. Back then, we worked on adapting the formulation of an edible straw into flexible packaging. As part of this new collaboration, we’ve been working on optimizing the material properties and on pilot scale production. We’ve also been in touch with a number of other Swiss corporations.
How do you support the Swiss ecosystem beyond your core business offer?
We’ve been helping to connect stakeholders in the field across different entities, and sometimes even within the same organisation. While collaborating with Nestlé, we helped to connect people and departments working towards common goals within the company itself.
What support could the SFNV community offer to help you achieve your goals?
We’re really excited about strengthening our industry connections through our membership of Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley. This will allow us to accelerate our business growth and amplify our network within Switzerland.
Tell us something we don’t know about your company.
Our name often throws up questions! B’ZEOS is actually an acronym. B stands for bio-based, Z stands for zero waste, E stands for edible, O stands for marine origin and S stands for soluble. And if you’re wondering how to pronounce it, it’s: “Bee-ze-os!”
Find out more about the B’ZEOS team’s work on their website.
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