UK bioplastics start-up takes business pitch to St. James’ Palace

A UK bioplastics company is taking its pitch to St. James’ Palace today (7th February), where it will compete to win support from high profile business mentors, partners and support agencies.

Floreon Transforming Packaging Ltd has been chosen as one of 14 companies to make the finals of the Duke of York’s ‘Pitch@Palace’ initiative, which was established to help support UK start-ups by giving them access to finance and advice from successful business leaders and investors.

The final, which takes place twice a year and focuses this time on biotech, will see the Floreon team present its patented, high performance plastic, also named Floreon, which is produced from renewable resources, using plants as a raw material.

Floreon is a biodegradable, polyester-based polymer blend of a standard bioplastic polylactic acid (PLA), that the company says yields a resin that is much tougher and easier to process than current materials, and has the potential to expand the use of bioplastics and replace other plastic derivatives.

 “What makes Floreon unique is that we have significantly boosted the performance of PLA without adversely changing the nature of the material,” explained Dr. Andrew Gill, Technical Director, Floreon.

“Our additives are effective at very low addition levels, maintaining a high level of biobased content without compromising the compostability or safety of the material.

“Instead of simply comparing Floreon with other bioplastics, independent testing has shown that it can outperform PET in terms of mechanical performance. While we recognise the success story of PET recycling and respect that we won’t replace the material in every application, such as soft drink bottles, it is clear that newly established bioplastics offer significant opportunities for the future in terms of both production, functionality and end of life options.”

The Pitch@Palace final follows a three-month judging process that has seen Floreon present its versatile bioplastic to Prince Andrew and a panel of experts, as well as completing a Boot Camp.

Speaking about the process and success so far, Shaun Chatterton, CEO of Floreon, said: “Everyone at Floreon is proud that we have been chosen as a finalist in the Pitch@Palace process – particularly given this year’s focus on biotech innovations. This is an incredibly exciting time for the company and we’re excited to showcase how this unique bioplastic can change the way we think about plastics and packaging.”