The Israeli startup company can take what is normally considered to be household waste materials and convert them into “sustainable bio-based materials.” UBQ’s final product serves as an efficient alternative to plastic and is considered to be the first technology of its kind in the world.
What most people consider waste on a daily basis has been found to be very useful in a very unexpected way in the hands of the Israeli start-up company, UBQ – a company that specializes in developing efficient thermoplastics from everyday waste, such as multiple plastics, compost, and believe it or not, used diapers.
According to UBQ, they have:
“developed a revolutionary solution that converts Residual Municipal Solid Waste (RMSW) that is destined for landfills into patented material. Through a proprietary process, the mixed waste stream – containing organic elements like food waste, garden trimmings, paper, cardboard, diapers, dirty plastics, and packaging materials – is converted into an entirely homogeneous composite material that can be utilized by industry.”
The company has a plant in southern Israel in Kibbutz Tze’elim (Negev Desert), yet its impact is continuing to extend around the globe. The belief at UBQ is that waste ought to be limited to the fullest extent and resources “infinitely reused.” The company has received praise for being one that avoids emission production and water utilization.
More recently, UBQ struck a deal with Motherson Group, an Indian-Japanese joint venture that manufactures spare parts for automobiles. Motherson has factories all over the world, and they are utilizing material from UBQ in place of plastic. But the raw materials coming out of UBQ aren’t limited to car parts, which is already hard to believe. Their materials (thermoplastics) have been used to create a wide range of items, including that which is needed for 3D printing.
In February 2020, Daimler, a German automaking company, revealed it would be carrying out a test with UBQ to see if it would make sense to partner with them. They are still working together today.
What UBQ is doing is considered to be the world’s first technology of this kind. During what they call the conversion process, the collected waste materials are broken down into their more original components, and, “at a particle level, these natural components reconstitute themselves and bind together into a new composite material,” which is the final product UBQ can provide. Additionally, they pride themselves on the reality that the company “provides a unique, stand-alone and cost-efficient solution to our global waste problem – and one that produces a commercially viable, environmentally sustainable materials.”
UBQ Co-Founder Tato Bigio stated in the past, “Our material will work with all polymers, without changing processes, without changing molds, without changing anything.”
UBQ was founded in 2012 and has made a significant global impact ever since.