Interface Polymers set to transform plastics recycling

Interface Polymers’, Warwick University spin-out, has developed Polarfin, a technology that modifies the surface of commonly used plastics so that mixed plastic waste can be recycled into useful products.

The business was set up less than 3 years ago with the help of Innovate UK.  

It has applications in packaging, crop protection and construction and works by allowing adhesion between otherwise incompatible materials.

The technology was developed at the University of Warwick by the company’s founders, Dr Christopher Kay and Professor Peter Scott.

Dr Kay applied for the Innovate UK’s innovation to commercialisation (ICURe) scheme with the aim of exploring its commercial viability and within eight years his business plan forecasts a turnover of £100 million.

The funding allowed the company to start supplying samples to customers by scaling up production of Polarfin additives from a few grams to tens of kilograms.

Interface Polymers has attracted £4 million in private investment in the last two years including £1.5 million from private capital investment group 24Haymarket.

It has also won more funding from Innovate UK to support development of anti-fogging coverings for crop protection and new solutions for the recycling of packaging.

“Next year, we will be working closely with customers to prove the technology across 3-4 applications in readiness for a multi-tonne production campaign,” said Dr Kay.  

“All our target markets are substantial. Each is big enough to drive the growth of the business, once we have the right product in the right hands, delivered in the right way at the right cost.”

The ICURe programme helps university research teams with commercially viable ideas to validate them in the marketplace. It is run by SETsquared Partnership and Innovate UK and funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.