Teysha Technologies is a London-based company that has recently developed a revolutionary sustainable plastic substitute. The patented second-generation bioplastic has been created after many years of research and development, utilising waste from landfill to create a comprehensive series of polymers that can be used for multiple applications.
Matthew Stone, Teysha Technologies’ Managing Director, has helped the company to secure more than £1.2 million in investment from the Angel Investment Network. The money raised through this investment will be used to secure contracts and deliver prototypes to market.
Between its launch in 2017 and the securing of the funding in November 2019, Teysha Technologies secured two patents and there are already more in the planning stages.
Meeting Hundreds of Applications
The revolutionary biopolymers created by Teysha Technologies can be adapted to meet hundreds of applications, with specific prototyping carried out for each new contract to ensure the resulting material is the most suitable for the required job.
The patented system is fully tunable, meaning a large range of materials can be developed, each with different properties and lifespans. One of the key issues bioplastics encounter is sustainable disposal. Teysha Technologies’ products are designed to break down into constituent building blocks that are organic and earth friendly.
Investors were drawn to the inherent versatility of the product, which has the capability to produce hundreds of different materials depending on requirements. Leader of the fundraise Sam Louis commented on the demand among angel investors today for just this type of high-impact, sustainable solution.
Some facts and figures about plastic waste can be seen in the infographic attachment to this post.
Unique Technology
The unique technology from Teysha is based on a natural green polycarbonates platform, using a scalable synthesis process to create sustainable alternatives to traditional plastics. The environmentally friendly polycarbonates originate from renewable sources and are designed to exhibit multiple combinations of toughness, strength and pliability.
When finished with, each product can be hydrolytically broken down into various biologically advantageous by-products. Some of the most common properties and uses of polycarbonates are outlined in the embedded short video.
Petroleum-based polycarbonate products, such as those currently widely used across sectors such as packaging, medical equipment, automotive moulding and construction, cannot be broken down when disposed of, which creates landfill waste or pollutes the oceans.
Teysha Technologies’ biopolymers undergo selective degradation when exposed for prolonged periods of time to specific natural conditions, breaking down into non-harmful substances.
Natural Products
The scientists at Teysha Technologies have developed patented technologies that create sustainable solutions to many of the environmental issues of plastic use. Traditional plastics are derived from hydrocarbon-based petrochemicals, which in turn come from fossil fuels.
Aside from challenges caused by the non-degradable nature of the finished products, these plastics also generate many pollutants throughout the manufacturing process. Teysha Technologies’ plastic alternatives are derived from natural products, including agricultural waste and starches, which removes pollutants rather than creating them. The PDF attachment looks at the process of making plastics and bioplastics.
The Teysha Technologies platform is unique in that, unlike with conventional bioplastics, the degradation rate can be tuned. This means that the environmental impact of plastic products that have reached the end of their natural lifespan is minimised. To date, most efforts to prevent plastic waste from polluting oceans and landfill have revolved around changing human behaviours, such as promoting recycling or minimising the use of plastic bags.
Teysha Technologies has developed a viable alternative to using plastic in the first place, with the potential to drastically reduce the impact of these types of materials on the environment.
