Berlin startup Made of Air has developed a bioplastic made of forest and farm waste that sequesters carbon and can be used for everything from furniture to building facades.
The recyclable material is 90 per cent carbon and stores around two tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) for every tonne of plastic.
By 2050, Made of Air hopes to be storing up to a gigatonne of CO2e a year in the material, which is also called Made of Air.
Company aims to "help reverse climate change"
"While we are a materials company, really in our heart we are a climate company and that's the reason for our existence," the company's chief commercial officer Neema Shams told Dezeen. "We're aiming to help reverse climate change." Since the material stores more CO2 from the atmosphere than it emits throughout its lifecycle, Made of Air is a carbon-negative material, Shams said.
"We see carbon-negative as what biodegradable was 10 years ago," he explained. "Back then, no one knew what it was, no one knew why it mattered. And now it's pretty ubiquitous."
Made of Air's HexChar panels (top image) have been installed on the facade of an Audi dealership in Munich (above)
Made of Air was founded in 2016 by architects Allison ?Dring and Daniel ?Schwaag, who previously collaborated to create a pollutant-absorbing cladding called Prosolve370e.
The new company has identified five sectors where its bioplastic can be used. These are building facades, furniture...