From production waste to ecological materials as alternatives to plastic. That is the idea behind Mixcycling, a spin-off of Vicenza-based cork stopper company Labrenta, founded in February 2020 from an idea by Gianni Tagliapietra and Amerigo Tagliapietra, and part of the LifeGate Way network, the group's subsidiary with the aim of creating a network of sustainable startups focused on open innovation. Through specialised patents, Mixcycling aims to elevate waste from industrial processing, giving a new life to what would otherwise be thrown away. A circular economy solution — or "triangular", as Gianni Tagliapietra explained to us — that finds application across many sectors, from packaging to automotive, from interior furnishings to pet toys.

Plant fibres and plastic materials

The startup's innovative, patented system is based on the fusion of plant fibres — sourced from internal agro-industrial production or locally, including wood, cork, bran, rice husks, grasses and parchment — with bioplastics derived from renewable sources or recycled polymers. All of this is made possible by a process that promotes the bonding of fibre to plastic material. But rather than producing materials, Tagliapietra explains, "we could say we offer a service" to all those companies that turn to Mixcycling for their green transition. Companies that must then communicate it clearly and transparently, avoiding greenwashing, "because the risk of making missteps that can then backfire is a very real, everyday concern." But how did the idea for Mixcycling come about? How does the production process work? What are the advantages from a technical and environmental perspective? We asked Gianni Tagliapietra, CEO and co-founder of Mixcycling.

What does Mixcycling do and how did the idea come about?
Mixcycling is an innovative startup founded at the beginning of last year, one month before the coronavirus pandemic broke out. It is a spin-off of an industrial company that produces packaging and had begun to recover its own processing waste internally — in particular wood and cork — with the idea of not throwing it away but creating something that could be reused. That is how we created the first blends to make stoppers. We then decided to bring the production process in-house: we acquired a small screw extruder, which is used precisely to create the blends, and thanks to this we filed the patent for our production process. At that point we began to extend the areas of application beyond stoppers to include cosmetics as well, adding value to the material's aesthetic. We found considerable success: people really liked the material, and we told ourselves that this production process could replace plastic in every field where we find it today. And so Mixcycling was born, with the aim of elevating waste of organic origin, such as wood and cork, but also rice husks, hemp and bamboo. Practically any plant-based waste can potentially become a product suitable for our processing.

How does the production process work?
The fibres arrive to us in the form of woodchip, then they are dried, dehumidified, ground and sanitised using a cold plasma process that eliminates bacteria and volatile odours, and above all activates the fibres, making them more receptive when they are blended with the polymer component, which — depending on the end application to be met — can be 100 per cent biodegradable, 100 per cent from recycled material, 100 per cent bio-based, or it can be conventional polymers. So we, rather than producing materials, could say we offer a service. Companies come to us with a need and we study what the best application is. For example, right now everyone wants something biodegradable, but then when we analyse the product we may realise it is better to use a 100 per cent recycled product because in that context the material better meets the requirements and from a certain point of view may actually be more sustainable.

We do not consider ourselves mere raw material producers; we want to sell a service and a concept. Today it is no longer enough for a company to take a sustainable material and produce an object — the more complex work is communicating it, in a transparent and clean way, avoiding greenwashing. There is still a great deal of confusion and the risk of making missteps that can then backfire is a very real, everyday concern. People sometimes simply do not know what we are talking about, so what we also try to do is offer this type of service, which is why, in our view, the material is worth 50 per cent and the knowledge, the expertise and the communicative power account for the other 50 per cent. We would like Mixcycling to become something of the Vibram, the Goretex of biopolymers.

One of the pillars of Mixcycling is the objective measurement of environmental impact. How does that work?
From the outset we thought we wanted to put ourselves forward with something objective, and in our analysis the Life cycle assessment (Lca) is the best tool for comparing one material with another. We have currently analysed three types of blends we produce and found that in some cases we achieve more than 70 per cent in Lca savings compared to virgin polymer: we are starting to talk about a significantly lower impact. We are now working on a calculator — which will be something of the first in the world in this field — where we will provide, for each of our materials, a gate-to-gate Lca, so to speak. As you can imagine, we work with different types of fibre and different types of polymer in different percentages, so we produce hundreds of thousands of materials. We can then offer the customer a further service: if they want the Lca for their own product, it is necessary to add two transformation stages, analyse what the end of life is, and perhaps also support them in obtaining the final Lca of the product — starting, however, with an important piece of data already available relating to the material.

What are the main areas of application for the materials?
We generate volumes in the packaging world, but we are exploring every field of application — from furnishings to technical articles and safety products. I do not yet feel able to say which could be our preferred channel, since we were only founded a year ago, but certainly for now packaging is performing very well. We are also approaching automotive and the agricultural sector.

What are the advantages from both a technical and an environmental perspective?
We have several advantages: on one hand, that of objective sustainability, with comparisons between materials. If today one were to choose between a biodegradable material, a 100 per cent recycled material or a virgin material, whichever of these three is chosen, if it is made with Mixcycling, the plastic component is reduced. A very important factor is then that of material design, meaning the material that speaks for itself.

Let's take an example: if today a component is made with a biodegradable material that nonetheless has a plastic appearance, the consumer has to read the label to understand what it actually contains; if instead it is one of our materials, which already communicate naturalness at a glance, communication with the buyer is made easier precisely because it is the material itself that does the talking. This is something I consider very important – especially today, when people pay little attention to anything –: someone who cares about sustainability will choose from the shelf the product that satisfies this requirement from the very first impression. The material must be used as a means of communication.

How do you avoid greenwashing?
You have to be careful about what you say; write one wrong word and you fall into greenwashing. There is no rule, other than having someone with a degree of knowledge in these matters handle the most appropriate communication, in the absence of a law that tells you exactly what you must say. You have to avoid achieving the exact opposite of what you were perhaps trying to do. It is better to communicate something less striking but more stable over time. Mixcycling places great emphasis on encouraging people to think about the fact that we are in a period of transition.

During this decade we have set ourselves the goal of progressively reducing plastic components, especially those of fossil origin, in favour of bio-based materials; but it is a process that takes time – it is impossible to think that plastic can be eliminated from one day to the next. What we can do, starting even tomorrow morning, is reduce the plastic component while waiting for technology to deliver ever better products. People need to understand that in a transitional period such as the one we find ourselves in, it is important to take small steps, and that sweeping, disruptive change brings no benefit at all.

Is the goal nevertheless to move towards the circular economy?
Absolutely. We have even coined terminology that is more binding still: we talk about a triangular economy, because in some cases we take the waste of one of our clients, use it to create a material and packaging, and return it to that same client.

What short- and long-term goals have you set yourselves?
Our primary goal is precisely to spread our beliefs and ensure that as many companies as possible can become our clients and use our services. In the meantime, we are actively developing new formulations, because we have found that in certain blends, with certain types of waste, we have achieved a reduction in gas permeability, and in other cases greater resistance to fire exposure – something that would normally have required chemical additives.

Another fundamental aspect concerns economic sustainability: that is, if I am sustainable but cost four to five times as much, adoption will be at one per cent and change will not happen; if, on the other hand, we create materials starting from waste – which therefore costs very little – trying to incorporate ever greater amounts of fibre so that in some cases we reach the same price as virgin raw materials, then it truly becomes economically sustainable. This is essential for approaching the mass market and ensuring a significant rate of adoption. Everyone talks about sustainability, but when you are standing in front of a shelf and have to spend 10–20 per cent more, there is a drastic drop-off.