Green Success Stories puts Jack (Tato) Bigio, Co-Founder and Director of UBQ Materials, into The Green Spotlight. Tato describes his journey from heading a publicly traded investment firm, to founding a renewable energy firm in 2008, to cofounding and leading UBQ Materials into an international leader. He describes UBQ’s unique process of converting landfill-bound waste into a climate positive plastic alternative, one being adopted and used by major companies worldwide. He hopes to inspire others that efficient technological innovations like UBQ can help us protect the environment and help us transition to a truly circular economy.

Tell us a bit about your sustainability journey.

Having completed my 5-year role as President and CEO of a publicly traded (NASDAQ) investment company, in 2008 I founded a renewable energy company that tapped the existing wind, solar, and biofuel technologies to develop integrated projects worldwide. Even though in 2010 the company was acquired by a leading fund, my sustainability journey was just about to take a big leap. In 2012, together with two seasoned partners, we founded UBQ Materials, and the journey began.

Tell us a bit about the product or solution you offer.

UBQ Materials converts unsorted landfill-destined waste – including all organics, mixed dirty plastics, diapers, cardboard and packaging – into UBQ, a sustainable thermoplastic alternative to oil-based resins. By diverting waste from landfills and converting it into a climate positive plastic alternative, UBQ is closing the loop on waste-to-material-to-production cycles. A certified B Corp and award-winning climate-tech company, UBQ empowers industries to offset the carbon footprint of end products and preserve finite resources.

UBQ thermoplastic seamlessly integrates into standard manufacturing processes offering manufacturers a commercially viable way to fulfill ESG commitments.

Today, global partners span construction, automotive, logistics, retail and other areas, and include industry leaders such as Mainetti, Mercedes-Benz, McDonald’s and PepsiCo.

UBQ thermoplastic is used in thousands of applications on its own or in conjunction with other thermoplastic materials through injection moulding, extrusion, compression moulding and 3D printing.

For every ton of UBQ produced, up-to 12 tons of CO2 equivalent can be prevented from polluting the environment.

With a positive environmental impact and a cost-competitive price, UBQ circular material unlocks the value in waste and advances a world in which human consumption lives in harmony with the natural environment.

Share a green success story with us – how have you helped customers or other businesses in the fight against climate change?

UBQ thermoplastic is a highly sustainable material that delivers a carbon-negative alternative to its customers. By using residual household waste aimed to landfill as feedstock we create an alternative plastic to conventional oil-based resins, UBQ is solving the negative impacts of landfilled waste, bringing to the market a new natural resource that never existed before. This notable solution promotes resource preservation and a true circular economy. Our clients choose UBQ because it not only avoids the landfill emissions and the plastics production emissions, but also because it captures the biogenic carbon present in the organic fraction which is the majority of the waste.

What would you do with $1 billion dollars?

Expand the company faster.

What do you envision your industry looking like in ten years?

Consumers, governments and entire industries are shifting rapidly towards a zero waste and zero emission planet. UBQ is a waste-to-product material, with a negative carbon footprint that can drop the emission of end products significantly and provide an alternative to scarce raw materials that are both economically and environmentally expensive.

We have a fully operational plant in the Netherlands that converts over 100,000 tons of household waste into 80,000 tons of UBQ thermoplastic material. We aim to expand internationally to deliver our proprietary technology to different countries on all continents.

What would you like readers to take away from this article?

UBQ is an inspiring story. We created a remarkable process technology that is just starting to show its potential to become a role model for other industries to follow a similar path. I want to give hope to those who feel that we are losing the climate battle, by showcasing that efficient technological innovations like UBQ can help us protect the environment and help us transition from a linear extraction and consumption model that exhausts our natural resources to a truly circular economy.

How should readers get in touch with you and/or your organization?

Via our internet site, https://www.ubqmaterials.com.

Kudos

Many thanks to Jack (Tato) Bigio, and UBQ Materials

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