Nearly half of all plastic waste generated is the result of single-use plastics, meaning that much of the plastic in our streets, oceans, and rivers could be reduced by developing compostable alternatives. Thankfully, erthos, founded by Nuha Siddiqui, is developing new eco-friendly plastic alternatives.
For their company’s first official pilot, the co-founders took a targeted approach to figure out where their resins could be utilized. Looking beyond the obvious has allowed erthos to find the best product market fit. That’s why the erthos team worked with Anheuser-Busch InBev’s 100+ Accelerator to develop compostable keg caps. While this item may seem small compared to more common plastic products, replacing them with erthos’ eco-friendly alternatives can reduce the amount of waste on an industrial scale.
The sustainable features of erthos’ resins
The erthos team devises plant-powered solutions that are sustainable and compatible with existing manufacturing technology. Making something that can be integrated into established systems means fewer upfront costs and less resistance from the market. It’s easy to swap out traditional plastic inputs for erthos’ inputs since they use the same infrastructure during the production process.
One of the main features of erthos’ inputs is that they are compostable. Consumers can break products made with erthos’ solutions into smaller pieces and toss them into their home composting bin once they’re done using it. Once composted, erthos products turn into rich soil from which more plants can be grown, creating a true circular economy.
Not only do erthos’ compostable solutions divert plastic from polluting our environment, their materials are designed to save over 40% of energy, and preserve 98% of watercompared to traditional plastics, without all the toxins.
A small piece fixes a big problem
What was the company’s first product? Before the idea for erthos was even formed, its creators were hard at work, looking for a sustainable alternative for the lowly packing peanut. Co-founder Nuha Siddiqui was an undergraduate at the University of Toronto at the time, and she wanted to develop something small yet pivotal for a research project.
While erthos may have started with packing peanuts, the company’s reach now expands across a broad range of industries such as fashion, personal care, consumer packaged goods, tableware, lawn care, and more. The company is actively looking for new partners to help them realize their goal: achieving a world free from plastic pollution.
Indeed, erthos’ solutions are some of the few one-for-one sustainable alternatives for traditional plastics. With resins designed to substitute for plastics such as polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene, erthos’ inputs are food-contact-safe, tree-free, and are used to make single-use products that won’t end up in a landfill. Consumers don’t need to change their usage habits to cut down on waste—products made from erthos’ inputs are still single-use and disposable. They only have to dispose of them differently.
erthos resins are an eco-friendly alternative to traditional plastics and are easy to integrate into existing factories and supply chains. In a promising step towards a green economy, the company’s plant-powered solutions benefit the environment while simultaneously offering convenience to manufacturers and consumers.
