Full Cycle Bioplastics captured Think Beyond Plastic's highest honor, being named Most Innovative Business of 2016. The Richmond, Calif. company converts organic waste into a fully biodegradable plastic resin.
Full Cycle uses food, agricultural, cardboard and paper wastes to convert into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). PHAs naturally biodegrade in marine and terrestrial ecosystems and help solve the growing challenges of plastic and organic waste pollution, the company says.
“Full Cycle is honored to receive this award. As a startup, it is important to externally test and validate our business model, and this is a great boost to our confidence that we are on the right path,” said Full Cycle CEO Andrew Falcon in a release.
The Most Innovative Business Idea award went to NeuWorld Plastics for its compostable, non-petroleum-based alternatives to single-serve food packaging.
Honorable mention awards went to two different groups working together. Two U.S. operations, Catch Microfiber and Save the Ocean, joined with Canada's Plastic Smog Emissions Closed Loop project to win for their efforts in keeping microfiber and microbeads out of the ocean.
Two other U.S.-based groups, A Better Way to Drink and Drink Water, working with India's AmrutDhara, were honored for programs aimed at reducing or eliminating plastic bottle uses.
Launched in 2007 as a National Geographic 360 campaign, Think Beyond Plastics started an innovation accelerator focused on eliminating plastic pollution through innovation and entrepreneurship in 2013.