Indorama Ventures, in partnership with Polymateria, has been honored with the prestigious World of Wipes Innovation Award for their ground breaking collaboration in developing pioneering  Biotransformation technology to create wipes, which totally biodegrade, leaving no harmful substance or microplastics behind.

The award was presented at the recent World of Wipes International Conference in Atlanta, GA, and recognizes the level of technical innovation and investment that led to developing wipes that both deliver against the sustainability challenges of today while meeting the demands of Indorama Ventures’ customers worldwide.

“This is a huge honor for us,” says Shachar Rachim, CEO at Indorama Ventures’ Hygiene Group. “End of life issues with products that are comprised of nonwoven fabrics are as complicated as they are numerous. Used product waste, whether the simplest wipe material, the most prolific face masks or the most complicated in the form of baby diapers, all utilize polymeric resins that have a high degree of inertness and stability but that are difficult to recycle and degrade. We embraced this issue with our technology partners to bring a new type of solution to market, specifically in the form of Biotransformation technology.”

Through its 10-year partnership agreement with technology innovator Polymateria, Indorama Ventures is applying Polymateria’s unique biotransformation technology to fibers and spunmelt nonwovens. Biotransformation is the world’s first biodegradation technology that is capable of delivering full biological consumption of Polyolefin products in the open terrestrial environment. Polyolefin-based materials produced by this technology are especially useful for applications where materials may be leaked into the environment as unmanaged waste.

“Once triggered, the material will continue to the point of forming the low molecular weight wax structure, leaving no microplastics behind to cause environmental problems,” explains Rachim. “Moreover, if the product comprising the biotransformation technology is not exposed to the triggering conditions of sunlight, heat, air and moisture, then it can be recycled by readily available means.”

Polymateria CEO Niall Dunne says: “Polymateria was founded to help tackle plastic pollution at scale. Through our latest partnership with IVL, this is exactly what we are delivering. I am glad we have found long-term partners who share our commitment to science and evidence.”

Rachim said the entire team at Indorama Ventures, its subsidiary Avgol and Polymateria were delighted and proud to receive the award, presented by the INDA – the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry – at the special ceremony at the 17th annual World of Wipes event.

“We are constantly innovating to live up to our responsibility to optimize the Earth’s resources, as we combine nature and science in our Biotransformation PP – designed to be recycled or returned to nature,” he says. “By bringing Biotransformation technology to hygiene markets, we hope to offer a real-world solution to waste management. We particularly hope to address aspects of the creation of fugitive waste and remove this from the environment without causing additional, and potentially more dangerous, problems.”

The other nominees for the World of Wipes Innovation Award were 2XL Corporation for its Windup cleaning device and Yowel’s system for dispensing reusable towels.

INDA’s Technical Advisory Board selected the finalists based on the creativity, uniqueness and technical sophistication employed in finding novel ways to expand the utilization of nonwovens. Categories considered for the award were wipes related raw materials, roll goods, converting, packaging, active ingredients, binders, additives, and end-use products.