Key Highlights:
- UBQ Materials promotes a circular materials economy by transforming unsorted household waste into UBQ, a bio-based material, thus redefining waste as a valuable resource rather than an environmental burden.
- Unlike traditional recycling methods, UBQ's process accepts all residual household waste, including organics, and eliminates the need for sorting and cleaning.
- UBQ's solution offers an eco-friendly alternative to fossil-based plastics, with applications available across various industries.
Every year we dump an enormous 2.12 billion tons of waste into landfills – but what if this ‘waste’ could have a second life?
In an economy increasingly focused on sustainability, UBQ Materials strategically places itself at the “forefront of promoting a circular materials economy.”
By viewing waste as a “valuable resource”, the climate tech developer redefines our relationship with unwanted residuals by transforming unsorted household waste into UBQ, a novel bio-based material. In doing so, UBQ is actively shaping a circular plastics economy, one where waste becomes a building block for sustainable products instead of an environmental burden.
Interplas editor Rebekah Jordan spoke with Patricia Mishic O'Brien, UBQ Materials CCO. to rethink the plastics industry’s view on landfill waste and identify the company’s mission in creating a circular economy.
Beyond Recycling: Waste-to-Materials
Unlike traditional recycling, UBQ doesn't discriminate. It takes all residual household waste from landfills, including organics, eliminating the need for sorting and cleaning – simplifying the process overall. Through a multi-stage automated process, any bacteria and hazardous materials are effectively eliminated.
O'Brien highlighted: “Metals and minerals are the only components extracted from the residual waste mix, with the remaining materials seamlessly converted into UBQ.”
The end result isn’t just a versatile, eco-friendly alternative, but a competitively priced material with excellent thermoplastic properties that tackles the urgent need to replace “fossil-based plastics” and other “resource-intensive materials.”
“UBQ signifies a transition from the traditional use of fossil-based polluting materials and post-consumer recycled (PCR) products to a new era of sustainable secondary-raw materials and low-carbon applications,” added O'Brien.
According to UBQ Materials, its flagship line, the UBQ Q Series (UBQ), is suitable for a diverse range of industries including automotive, logistics, construction and retail, not only reducing their environmental footprint but also achieving carbon-neutral product outcomes. “It serves as a bio-based, climate-positive material replacement for traditional plastic to achieve carbon-neutral product outcomes,” explained O'Brien.
Additionally, in its recently launched Sustainability Product Portfolio, the company offers manufacturers a variety of material replacements that are “tailored for specific applications.” Notably, UBQ ClimaPos acts as an additive and offers a “significant impact on removal and avoidance of greenhouse gases.” According to the materials company, adding as little as 5% ClimaPos can support a manufacturer in successfully achieving or exceeding their sustainability goals.
A Partnership for Global Progress
Furthermore, UBQ recently joined forces with the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) at COP28. In its pavilion at COP’s first-ever Waste and Resource Pavilion, UBQ seized the opportunity to showcase its solution around waste material transformation.
O'Brien stated: “The decision to participate in this Pavilion also positioned UBQ in alignment with ISWA's COP28 mission, urging stakeholders to acknowledge the Waste and Resource Management sector as a net reducer of greenhouse gas emissions, steering towards a low-carbon future.”
Challenges and Opportunities: Leading the Way to a Circular Future
With the plastics industry relying heavily on traditional materials, UBQ faces challenges when it comes to alternative solutions.
“Today, plastics are a known entity. Materials engineers and R&D have their formulas with plastics that work and can be averse to change. However, companies are also setting benchmarks for integrating more sustainable materials, which is also being backed by regulation in many countries - particularly in the EU,” reported O'Brien.
However, with increasingly stringent sustainability regulations and growing consumer demand for environmentally responsible products, the tide is turning. UBQ offers economically viable and easy-to-integrate options that balance both sustainability and performance.
O'Brien concluded: “Our new product line makes this an even easier transition as we have developed specific additives and material replacements as well as two material modifier lines so companies can easily find the right formulation to meet both sustainability and performance requirements.”
By radically changing the industry’s approach to global waste, linear economy practices, and the finite utilisation of resources, the company seems well-positioned to push the goal of a circular economy further into fruition.