Adding Air to Plastic to Reduce Materials Cost
MicroGREEN
Tom Malone
Prompted by demand for sustainable materials and high oil prices that make plastic more expensive to produce, MicroGREEN is commercializing a method to pump air bubbles into plastics and expand the material to five times its original size. Its technology means manufacturers that make everything from cars to coffee cups could use lighter-weight, less dense plastic, reducing materials costs. "There's about 50 billion pounds of plastic that is getting used in applications that we can address," says CEO Tom Malone. The 21-employee company, founded by current Vice-President of Technology Krishna Nadella when he was a grad student at the University of Washington in 2002, raised $2.4 million in 2006 and expects to close a Series B round soon. With that funding in place, Arlington (Wash.)-based MicroGREEN will begin to manufacture material to compete with the plastic-coated paper used in coffee cups and common food and beverage packaging. While a Japanese company has licensed the technology to make TV panels, the plastic sheeting material will be MicroGREEN's first manufactured product. The material can be made with recycled plastic, and it can be recycled itself. Malone, 54, envisions a "closed loop" system of manufacturing plants near major cities that source plastic from the municipal solid-waste stream. The rising price of oil, which affects the price of conventionally made plastic, helps make MicroGREEN's process competitive. "We can be about half the cost of a conventional plastic," Malone says. He projects revenue of $5 million in 2010 and expects to break even by the end of the year.
—John Tozzi (posted on Mar. 30, 2010)
Tom Malone
Prompted by demand for sustainable materials and high oil prices that make plastic more expensive to produce, MicroGREEN is commercializing a method to pump air bubbles into plastics and expand the material to five times its original size. Its technology means manufacturers that make everything from cars to coffee cups could use lighter-weight, less dense plastic, reducing materials costs. "There's about 50 billion pounds of plastic that is getting used in applications that we can address," says CEO Tom Malone. The 21-employee company, founded by current Vice-President of Technology Krishna Nadella when he was a grad student at the University of Washington in 2002, raised $2.4 million in 2006 and expects to close a Series B round soon. With that funding in place, Arlington (Wash.)-based MicroGREEN will begin to manufacture material to compete with the plastic-coated paper used in coffee cups and common food and beverage packaging. While a Japanese company has licensed the technology to make TV panels, the plastic sheeting material will be MicroGREEN's first manufactured product. The material can be made with recycled plastic, and it can be recycled itself. Malone, 54, envisions a "closed loop" system of manufacturing plants near major cities that source plastic from the municipal solid-waste stream. The rising price of oil, which affects the price of conventionally made plastic, helps make MicroGREEN's process competitive. "We can be about half the cost of a conventional plastic," Malone says. He projects revenue of $5 million in 2010 and expects to break even by the end of the year.
—John Tozzi (posted on Mar. 30, 2010)
