Originals · Startup · Startups & Fintech
unWOOD turns mixed plastic waste into a material you can saw, screw and sit on
The Bengaluru startup's process bonds commingled plastics into a wood-like composite without water or heavy heat, and won a Climate-KIC grant.
unWOOD, a Bengaluru materials startup founded by Dr Babu Padmanabhan and CEO Vishal Mehta, makes a wood substitute out of plastic waste that normal recyclers reject, such as multi-layered and contaminated plastics. BW Businessworld reported that its process uses proprietary equipment, an Intelligent Compounding Engine and a SAFEReCYCLER, to work with mixed, unwashed plastic without water or heat-intensive steps.
The core is what the company calls a Macro Molecular Fiber Matrix, which bonds different polymers and fibres into a composite that is extruded into profiles that look and behave like wood. Mehta told BW Businessworld that it matches wood on flexural strength and modulus and outlasts it. The New Indian Express reported that Padmanabhan holds a PhD in analytical kinematics from Virginia Tech and that the process relies on mechanical action rather than heat.
unWOOD received a catalytic grant from Climate-KIC, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology supported by the IKEA Foundation, as one of eight ventures worldwide working on upstream plastic waste solutions, BW Businessworld reported. The team says 11 park benches save one full-grown tree and divert about 48,000 chip packets from landfill. gen.E featured the company in a video this month.
