Ökosix, a green tech company that develops biodegradable products to replace single-use plastics, is solving one of healthcare's biggest problems by creating eco-friendly face masks that decompose within six months.
As TechCrunch reported, Eddie Yu, the company's founder, had previously founded a company that manufactured disposable face masks.
While they were essential during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, they also generated a significant amount of waste — millions of tons a month, to be exact, according to The Guardian.
One day, when Yu's niece accompanied him to work, she asked whether the face masks could be recycled while he sorted the recycling.
When he said "no," she replied, "'Oh, then you make a lot of trash every day.'" That got him thinking about how his industry could have a better impact on the environment.
It's not just face masks that are a problem in the healthcare sector; according to the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council, nearly 3,000 tons of plastic packaging are thrown out in U.S. facilities each day and most likely end up in landfills.
Yu's new company is solving this problem with its biobased, biodegradable polymer, which includes cellulose, chitosan from crustacean shells, wax, and plant-based fibers sourced from around the world.
The material is even more effective than polylactic acid, a commonly used biodegradable plastic, and it decomposes completely, unlike some other supposedly compostable products.
"We've got international certifications to prove that the material is completely gone in six months," Yu told TechCrunch.
While Ökosix is currently focusing on face masks, it eventually plans to manufacture surgical gowns, sanitary napkins, and diapers.
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Definitely 👍 "We want to use a safe material, non-plastic, to replace fossil plastics for disposable products," Yu explained.
The company has not conducted an official analysis yet, but Yu believes the biodegradable material "should have a carbon footprint that's 90% lower than that of polypropylene, a widely used single-use plastic," per TechCrunch.
Ökosix sells the raw materials to major companies, such as 3M, which then transform them into valuable products.
The startup has raised over $2 million from angel investors and funding from the founders, and it hopes to attract more capital at Startup Battlefield, an annual competition for early-stage tech startups hosted by TechCrunch, in late October.
Once the products become commercially available, they will go a long way toward cleaning up the healthcare industry and promoting a more sustainable future.
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