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CORDIS - Forschungsergebnisse der EU
CORDIS

Converting household waste into sustainable bio-based materials

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - UBQ Material (Converting household waste into sustainable bio-based materials)

Berichtszeitraum: 2018-12-01 bis 2019-03-31

We have developed a revolutionary patented process that converts residual municipal solid waste, destined for landfills, into the novel patented UBQ Material. The mixed heterogeneous waste stream (including the organics fractions like food waste, garden trimmings, paper, cardboard, diapers, dirty plastics, as well as packaging materials) is converted into an entirely homogeneous material that can be used in existing plastic processing equipment.
Our solution enables industry to reuse waste materials over & over again. By converting waste into this commercially viable & valuable material, we provide the missing link between waste disposal through to new product manufacturing, moving from a linear extraction and consumption system to a truly circular economy.
Our overall objectives were:
- to investigate the market, commercialization feasibility of UBQ Material to develop an extensive go-to-market strategy for the EU & the US;
- to plan the expansion of the UBQ process and start constructing the 1st plant outside of Israel.
UBQ targeted the plastic industry in Israel, that although small is populated by some world recognized brands and well known manufacturers exporting their goods to many countries as standard products or under leading private labels.
So far we have achieved the following:
1) First Injection Moulding customer—success of the process and the culmination of the first sale of UBQ Material. An material supply contract is on-gong.
2) Sale of recycling bins with UBQ to an American Waste Management Administration. The bins are a way to create awareness to UBQ and to the possible setup of a UBQ facility in the US as one of our first expansion steps.
3) Sale of recycling bins with UBQ—achieving a consumer product made of UBQ that promotes sustainability and recycling.
4) Production trials with major plastics producer—supply agreement in negotiations.
5) The expansion strategy for UBQ outside of Israel.
6) Complete the product strategy for Bjarke Ingels & Kilo collaboration - gathering a list of products to develop with UBQ Material, a prospect pipeline & a sales strategy.
7) Validation of economic/financial feasibility of UBQ Material.
8) A price sensitivity analysis for UBQ Material.
UBQ has made a qualitative and quantitative improvement of its material and potential value proposition. Through our internal and external R&D activities we have managed to secure a material that is compatible to existing resins and be used as a 'drop in' stream within existing product and manufacturing technics. The improvement of the physical and mechanical properties of UBQ goes far beyond our initial expectations.
As part of the expansion strategy and since we aim to expand the UBQ technology worldwide, we have cooperated with a leading Israeli engineering group in the design of a master plan that defines the basic requirements for a UBQ conversion plant. This master plan is universal and modular and provides a basic definition of the CAPEX requirements for such a plant, based on the total output which can be small (3 t/h—22,500 t/y), medium (6 t/h—45,000 t/y) and large (9 t/h—67,500t/y) as well as other parameters such as area site, number of employees, energy consumption and other variable costs, etc.
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