🔉 Part 2: In conversation with our first set of Amcor Lift-Off winners

In the second of a two-part Q&A series, Frank Lehmann, Vice President Corporate Venturing and Open Innovation at Amcor, explores entrepreneurship and the future of the packaging industry with Amcor Lift-Off winners Remy Buser, Co-Founder and CEO at Bloom Biorenewables Bloom Biorenewables, and Chee Hau Teoh, Co-Founder and CEO at Nfinite Nanotechnology Nfinite Nanotechnology.

Frank Lehmann (FL): What are your ambitions for the future of your businesses?

Remy Buser (RB): We want Bloom Biorenewables to become a global leader in the supply of bio-based materials, because we identify an enormous need. There has to be a shift away from fossil carbon and it needs to happen really fast. We aim to ride this wave and provide solutions and lead the way in these developments. We can then ensure as a society we get to a system where materials are sourced in a sustainable way and have an end of life that is non-polluting and can decay without leaving a trace on global ecosystems.

Chee Hau Teoh (CHT): Imagine by 2025 all the products on the shelves enabled by our coating solutions. We’re optimistic about bringing such solutions to market. Every player along the value chain and every customer can play a part in fighting this plastic pollution.

FL: You’re both co-founders and entrepreneurs. I personally have a lot of respect for this. What motivates you?

RB: This is a very good question that everyone should ask themselves when getting up in the morning. For me, it’s that we are at a transition in the way we do things and as a chemist I was trained to understand molecules and then I got the chance to work advising politicians and that’s where I realised that you have kinetics in the world of atoms that are not reflected at all in the way we do things as humans. This is what persuaded me to take this understanding of atoms and bring it to market through entrepreneurship as this is the fastest way to transfer technologies and develop new solutions to solve the many problems we have with the ecosystems we rely on.

CHT: Seeing plastic pollution first-hand and also knowing we’re only eight years away from the UN sustainable development goals. For our generation, we have to act now. What motivates me to wake up every day is the impact we can make with this technology. We are optimistic about the future and want to drive the change we want to see.

FL: Your innovations form part of an overall solution. What else is required from an innovation perspective for a more sustainable packaging industry?

CHT: I’m glad to see trends changing from a linear economy to a circular economy. Every player across the value chain must play a part in driving circular solutions and there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. Through collaboration, with Amcor and others, we can make this happen.

RB: In my view, we must start by understanding the whole supply chain and end-of-life of products. But we must also have awareness of end-users. This is a growing strength for the packaging industry, although it is sometimes missed when packaging people think is more sustainable is not always helping the cause if end-users aren’t disposing of it as intended, so we must educate the end-user to make wise choices. The second element is to question the comfort we have about strong materials from the petrochemical industry. These have excellent mechanical properties compared to more sustainable materials and finding a middle ground between them and comfort on the impact of this in terms of the shelf-life of goods is something to consider.

FL: Thanks for this interesting discussion. Any final thoughts?

RB: I really look forward to bringing this world of packaging further in the future.

CHT: We can do it. We’ve always believed that no matter how small or big you are the goal is the same. We share the common goal of saving this planet. Why go to Mars when we can save the Earth? I’m sure we can get there together with companies like Amcor.

FL: Well, we wish you all the best for the future of your businesses and congratulations again for being the first winners of the Amcor Lift-Off pitch.

Find Part 1 of this Q&A here to read Frank’s discussion with Remy and Chee about the Amcor Lift-Off seed funding program. Find more information on Amcor Lift-Off and Amcor’s corporate venturing work here.