Start-up creating novel materials from surplus feathers
Innovative start-up company Aeropowder is creating novel materials from surplus feathers, including it claims, the world’s first thermal packing material.
The London-based tech firm has been concerned about the current use of expanded polystyrene, which is so detrimental to the environment.
And so it has turned surplus feathers into a high performance insulation textile and then covered it with a compostable food grade liner, which is called pluumo.
The result is that the product can be used to replace conventional polystyrene packaging and enable more sustainable deliveries.
Elena Dieckmann, Aeropowder’s chief technical officer and co-founder, said the company initially wanted to make building insulation but the Grenfell Tower fire led to deep concerns about new materials being used.
Ms Dieckmann said target customers for pluumo are food and pharmaceutical companies who rely on thermal packaging to ensure products are kept cool during transport.
“Our product is made from biodegradable materials such as film, feather and a bio-binder, which makes it compostable,” she told Packaging Europe.
First customers including the butchery sector and the company is looking to expand into the German and French markets as well as being a presence in the UK.
![Uniform hatching eggs of good quality is the result of good breeder management. Yet transport on the farm has to be a careful operation and have critical parameters, such as temperature and shocks. [Photo: World Poultry]](https://www.poultryworld.net/app/uploads/2021/04/001_662_rb-image-2706091-389x260.jpeg)
