Oikos (Current)
- What constituted the partnership?
- Wanting to learn more about bioplastic product manufacturing
- How did the partner help you? How did you help them?
- Gave us an insight into their manufacturing process
- We could work on the pellets and help them from importing the raw materials
- Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
- Yes, they helped us learn about their process and in return we could make it less expensive by locally sourcing the pellets
- What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?
- Once we have developed pellets, they’ll be able to use our pellets to manufacture their products. They’ll purchase them for less from us, we’ll have income and be able to get real world feedback on our material.
Algoplast (Current)
- What constituted the partnership?
- Wanting to learn more about other bioplastic research
- How did the partner help you? How did you help them?
- Kirk gave us a tour of their facility and what equipment he uses. This will guide our decisions in the future as we begin to work on manufacturing
- Recommended we don’t go into cellulose based bioplastic.
- We haven’t really provided any help to him. Though in the future our progress in developing bioplastics could aid their progress.
- Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
- No, we haven’t provided any benefit to them
- What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?
- If we could catch up to where they are at in terms of bioplastic development, we would be able to provide more benefits for them and possibly help them advance their project too.
Plastic Pollution Coalition (Future)
- What constituted the partnership?
- Wanting to have a larger organization to help back us and spread the importance for transitioning away from plastics and the dangers of them
- How did the partner help you? How did you help them?
- They are a global alliance of organizations, businesses and individuals working towards ending plastic pollution. They would be a great way for us to network and build connections with similar minded organziations who can help support our projects. We can also help them by providing alternatives to single-use plastics and work with them towards eliminating plastic usage
- Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
- It is symbiotic since it is an alliance of many different programs, everyone is helping each other spread the same message and find solutions together
- What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?
- If we were able to help spread the word about the coalition and get others to join
Cornworld Breeding Systems Corporation – Local Farm in the Philippines (Future)
- What constituted the partnership?
- Needing a local resource
- How will the partner help you? How will you help them?
- They will help us by sourcing agricultural waste that we can use to make our bioplastic products
- Sourcing locally helps to support the local economy, introducing a new source of revenue for the farmers for something that would otherwise be waste
- Working with a local farm can also help us improve our transportation costs (reducing over all price)
- We can give them discounts on our products in return
- Is this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
- It is because we both help each other. The farmers can diversify their income and we will have a supply of our raw materials from a close by source
- What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?
- This is a potential partnership, so we still need to actually build it which is a large barrier in itself.
- We should establish long term agreements to sustain the partnership through any difficulties on either parties end
- Develop a way to dispose the used bioplastic back at the farm to provide the farmers with a source of compost
Nextgen Bioplastics (Future)
https://www.nextgenbioplastics.com/
- What constituted the partnership?
- They are a local company that manufactures food packaging from plant products. They are local and would be a great company to learn from as they do something very similar to what we want to do.
- How did the partner help you? How did you help them?
- They can help us understand the physical challenges they face manufacturing their products. How they convert plant waste into the base material they need. How they test their products. What the certification process is like, etc.
- I’m not sure how much help we would be to them. Maybe we could help them think more globally? Or provide an outlet for them to get good PR if they support us.
- Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
- It has the potential, but it is more likely to be one side, there isn’t much we will be able to provide to them.
- What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?
- If they had a desire to reach into the Philippine market, or expand their product more globally, or transition to starch based materials, we would be able to provide guidance and assistance on those fronts.
Provide at least 1 compelling and specific example of how you might engage with each of the 11 types of orgs discussed in class.
#1 Multilaterals
- Global Environment Facility (GEF) – Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
- Join a GEF-funded project through an implementing agency (“innovation pilots”)
- Partner with a local government or university that applies to GEF
- Apply through the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP)
#2 Government Agencies
- Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in the Philippines
- supports applied research and technology development in materials science, packaging, and agri-based innovations
- DOST-ITDI’s Standards and Testing Division has specialized laboratories, including the Green Packaging Laboratory, that conduct testing for environmental samples and end-use products. (learned about during PlastiCon25)
- Get government approval of our product
#3 Non-profits
– They want to raise awareness about plastic pollution. We could work with them to do so, emphasizing the need for alternatives to single-use products
#4 Foundations
- Biodegradable Products Institute
- They certify products as compostable. We can get their seal on our food wrappers.
#5 Academia
– UP Diliman and Algoplast → they started off in a similar state to where we are now. Could work with them to both develop our products since they are sourced from different materials we are not necessarily direct competition and can both benefit each other.
#6 Social Ventures
- Villgro Philippines / Circular ClimAccelerator Philippines
- Incubation, mentorship, funding readiness, tailored capacity building
- Visibility and networking
#7 Think Tanks
- Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance
- They encourage sustainable flow of materials and sourcing biobased products. They could help us promote our product and encourage its use.
#8 K-12 System
- The DOST is running a program “Mainstreaming Biotechnology and Biosafety in the Philippine Education Sector”. Which encourages education on biotechnology in 10 grade classes. We could provide bioplastic samples to help hands-on learning and introduce people to our product.
#9 Corporations
- https://biomebioplastics.com/
- UK company that designs 100% biodegradable and compostable bioplastics
- Collaborating with a corporation could provide the expertise in this specific area that would accelerate research and development and shorten the time for getting a product to the market as well as provide insight into the market beyond a research setting for a successful product (that exists in a different market than our own)
- If comparing our product to Biome’s, any comparison study that we produce could be used by them for validation of their product to customers
#10 Consulting Firms
- Lee Enterprises Consulting:
- They help businesses choose sustainable materials and products. We can distribute our product to companies through them.
#11 Startups
- https://www.plantswitch.com/
- They have the same statement as us, prioritizing a circular economy and developing a biodegradable material. They are based in the US, and we can work with them to learn about their process to get materials from the farms to facilities. We are not in direct competition with them since we are focusing on different materials and markets.