Solegear gearing up for growth – December 2011 Update
When Solegear Bioplastics Inc. entered the BCIC-New Ventures Competition in 2010, the company had just started to commercialize its newly invented high-performance bioplastics: Polysole and Traverse.
Poplysole, which is made from plants and is non-toxic and compostable, can be used for making products ranging from personal care products to durable packaging to toys. Traverse, made of recycled virgin plastic combined with natural fibers such as wood, rice husks, hemp or bamboo, can be used to manufacture injection-molded products such as deck chairs, automotive parts and electronics.
Solegear not only won the 2010 competition’s Second Prize, it also took home the BC Hydro Sustainability Prize and the BCIC Economic Impact Prize.
Since then, the company has scaled up its manufacturing capacity to produce up to 500 million pounds of both bioplastic products at manufacturing plants in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
“Our specialty is engineering and formulating different bioplastics for various applications,” says Solegear’s CEO Toby Reid, who is targeting key sectors such as toys, cosmetics packaging, housewares, personal care products, retail point-of-purchase displays and durable product packaging.
Centoco Plastics Ltd., for example, is using Traverse to make the inner core of its toilet seats while Kymera Industries is using it as the siding for its spa equipment. Companies like Best Buy, Proctor & Gamble and Lego are considering using Polysole in some of their products.
“All of them are pretty considerable companies looking at greening their supply chains by moving over to bioplastics,” says Reid, adding that
Solegear now has purchase orders and expressions of interest worth an estimated $6 million.
Solegear has recently signed collaboration agreements with UBC, Ecôle Polytechnique in Montreal, and the National Research Council’s Industrial Materials Institute in Quebec, and will be commercializing bioplastic technologies developed with these institutions.
Reid says Solegear is moving ahead steadily. He has not increased his original employee base of five, although he has upgraded the management team and expects to add another five employees in 2012. He has continued to use bootstrap financing, but expects to soon close a $1-million round of financing that will help with expansion. He is also hoping to begin in-house manufacturing in the Lower Mainland later in 2012.
“We want to make our technology a BC success story first and foremost.”