Planet Smart, a London-based startup, has unveiled a new, naturally biodegradable super absorbent polymer (bioSAP), PlanetSorb, which has been designed to replace the polymers currently used in products like diapers and menstrual pads.
Planet Smart is confident that its new innovation will ‘address the global plastic crisis’ at the heart of the $194 billion disposable hygiene market.
Traditional super absorbent polymers, it noted, can take centuries to decompose, with disposable diapers contributing to nearly 40 million tonnes of waste per year.
Super-absorbent polymers
According to Planet Smart, PlanetSorb performs competitively with commercially-available super-absorbent polymers (SAPs), and can be produced using existing manufacturing facilities.
“Growing up in the Philippines, a country that is the third highest contributor to plastic pollution in the world, sparked my passion to find a piece of the solution to our world’s plastic crisis,” commented Gerald Perry Marin, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Planet Smart.
“When I learned how much waste comes from disposable hygiene products alone, I saw an opportunity to go directly to the biggest source of a problem – the non-biodegradable, fossil-based SAP that can break down into microplastics. The disposable hygiene products industry needs an environmentally friendly SAP that doesn’t sacrifice performance, and at Planet Smart, we’re filling that void to reduce one of the largest offenders of plastic pollution globally.”
‘Moving the needle’
Commenting on the launch, Alan S. Goldstein, founder and CEO Tenx-Innovation and former director of P&G Ventures, noted that the issue of ‘trade-offs’ between performance and environment are prevalent in the market.
“Even while sustainability is increasingly important for governments and consumers around the world, not one of these major players has significantly moved the needle to meet this need,” he said. “The founders of Planet Smart are approaching this problem holistically, offering a product that is ready to scale and delivers no trade-offs between the environment and performance, which consumers demand.”
Planet Smart has already attracted investment from VC firms such as General Inception, whose senior director Sara Jones praised the company’s combination of “deep tech with scalable impact”. Read more here.
