{"id":131724,"date":"2023-09-15T07:23:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T05:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=131724"},"modified":"2023-09-12T11:56:27","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T09:56:27","slug":"plant-based-plastics-are-about-to-change-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/plant-based-plastics-are-about-to-change-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Plant-based plastics are about to change the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Dillon Baxter, 26 is the CEO and co-founder of PlantSwitch, a bioplastics company poised to forever change how our economy and our environment consume, compost and bio-degrade plastic. The post-college prodigy, along with his PlantSwitch co-founder Maxime Blandin, 29, manufactures the most advanced, high-performance, cost-effective and easily compostable plant-based plastic alternative ever brought to market.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Dillon Baxter (left) and Maxime Blandin (right) \u00a9 PlantSwitch<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

With the company\u2019s newly launched U.S.-based manufacturing facility, PlantSwitch now has the infrastructure in place to manufacture over 50 million pounds annually of its bioplastic material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Baxter\u2019s leadership, PlantSwitch has raised $17.5 million in working capital, which includes a coveted $5M USDA grant. They are now gearing up to manufacture their bioplastic raw material for multiple Fortune 500 companies, which will be rolling out to the public in Q1 of 2024. From major fast-food chains and pharmacy chains to large cosmetics brands, PlantSwitch bioplastics will soon be part of our everyday lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal is to turn one billion pounds of plants into our bioplastic material over the next decade,\u201d shares Baxter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baxter first made his discovery while working at a private equity firm during his senior year at Southern Methodist University. He was tasked with performing due diligence on a company in the bioplastics industry. \u201cI knew this bioplastic technology could be the future, but there were a few key issues with it that needed solving.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baxter soon left his full-time job at an investment bank in pursuit of developing a more effective bioplastic; one that would have a shot at replacing petroleum-based plastics. \u201cI made the crazy decision to leave a high-paying job and live off $16 a day while building PlantSwitch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baxter\u2019s former SMU classmate and PlantSwitch co-founder, Maxime Blandin, had connections with contract manufacturers and the two got to work. \u201cWe worked quickly to get an MVP (minimum viable product) into the market, we then raised capital and hired a talented team to develop the world-changing technology that we have today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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How Baxter and Blandin\u2019s PlantSwitch<\/a> Bioplastic is Fixing The Plastic Dilemma<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the Price Gap<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBioplastic technology has historically been very expensive, while traditional petroleum-based plastic is comparatively inexpensive to produce. Our feedstocks are agricultural byproducts, so we have a much lower raw material cost than any other bioplastic, and we are also giving waste streams a second life. Additionally, a lot of the previous plant-based materials weren\u2019t compatible with existing plastics machinery, they weren\u2019t drop-in solutions and they required companies to purchase specialized equipment to use them\u201d explains Baxter.  \u201cCompanies don\u2019t want to have to replace their expensive equipment. Our material is a true drop-in solution because it is fully compatible with current plastic machinery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the Performance Gap<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlantSwitch offers a tactile and performance match to traditional plastic. It feels like plastic, looks like plastic, and performs like plastic, with the same bend, flex and strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biodegradable and Compostable<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPrevious bioplastics were only able to be composted in an industrial facility. PlantSwitch bioplastic products easily and quickly break down in common backyard composting bins and countertop composters. Watch HERE<\/strong><\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor a truly sustainable material, it should be able to biodegrade on its own, leaving behind no toxic chemicals or microplastics. PlantSwitch meets these criteria.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While petroleum-based plastic takes over 1,000 years to break down in a landfill, PlantSwitch bioplastic is nontoxic and breaks down completely in just a few months in a home or industrial compost environment, with 0 toxicity or microplastics left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PlantSwitch bioplastic is truly sustainable in that it really just goes away. It\u2019s priced right, and it\u2019s a drop-in solution for current machinery. \u201cThat is how you solve the plastic problem,\u201d concludes Baxter.  \u201cOur material is the answer to plastic that the world has been looking for .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PlantSwitch co-founder and CEO, Dillon Baxter, is available for interviews about the company\u2019s groundbreaking bioplastic technology, their new U.S.-based bioplastics manufacturing facility,  and its versatile capabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dillon Baxter, 26 is the CEO and co-founder of PlantSwitch, a bioplastics company poised to forever change how our economy and our environment consume, compost and bio-degrade plastic. The post-college prodigy, along with his PlantSwitch co-founder Maxime Blandin, 29, manufactures the most advanced, high-performance, cost-effective and easily compostable plant-based plastic alternative ever brought to market. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"PlantSwitch manufactures the most advanced, high-performance, cost-effective and easily compostable plant-based plastic alternative ever brought to market","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[11270,5838,5847],"supplier":[22721,3510],"class_list":["post-131724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biodegradability","tag-bioeconomy","tag-bioplastics","supplier-plantswitch","supplier-southern-methodist-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131724"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=131724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}