New Portfolio Empowers Businesses to Select the UBQ™ Line that Meets Both Environmental and Performance Requirements
TEL AVIV, Israel – UBQ Materials, a developer of advanced materials made from waste, has unveiled its Sustainability Product Portfolio. The new comprehensive product portfolio of sustainable, bio-based materials encompasses three bio-based material replacements and sustainability additives, as well as two modifiers. Each product line features unique and complementary properties meticulously engineered to meet specific sustainability targets, including waste diversion, circularity, increased post-consumer recycled content, and emissions removal and avoidance.
UBQ Materials has developed an innovative process that converts household waste, including organic, paper, and plastic components that would otherwise end up in landfills, into a sustainable thermoplastic material. This material can be used as a substitute for conventional plastic, wood, and other materials in the manufacturing of various products, ranging from automotive parts to construction materials to reusable containers and plastic pallets. Even a small percentage of this material in a product can dramatically reduce or neutralize its climate footprint.
“For those already exploring material alternatives, the trade-offs between sustainability and product performance are well-known. Incorporating minimal amounts of UBQ can help businesses achieve a carbon-negative status, providing a win-win scenario for sustainability and business,” said Patricia Mishic O’Brien, CCO of UBQ Materials. “Sustainability is becoming an imperative for customers. Businesses incorporating UBQ are gaining a market advantage, enabling them to hit their sustainability goals while maintaining or improving upon their pricing power.”
UBQ material is suitable as an additive or replacement
The new material replacements and additives, all based on UBQ Materials’ globally patented waste-to-materials approach, are formulated to resolve performance challenges commonly encountered when integrating sustainable materials. The product lines are suitable as sustainability additives (10% to 30% load of UBQ-based material), or as material replacements (25% and higher load of UBQ-based material). This enables compounders and manufacturers to determine the right load level to balance consistent functionality with sustainability benefits.
“Sustainable product development has historically been hindered by material efficiency. Now compounders, product manufacturers and designers can focus on the upside opportunities of sustainability within their operations and product lines,” said Mishic O’Brien. “Our priority is to provide a full spectrum of functional sustainability options. We are confident that our new product lines will both benefit our customers and also drive substantial business growth for UBQ Materials in the future.”
“We have been working with customers across our focus industries – Building and Construction, Automotive, Logistics & Supply Chain, Consumer Durables – and historically incorporating UBQ into sustainable product development involved tweaks in formulation, composition, and additional properties needed,” added Mishic O’Brien. “We thought that instead of producing custom batches so often, why not take the most popular customizations and make them a portfolio of tailored solutions that make it less about how to incorporate UBQ™ material and more about the opportunities or what you can do with it.”
UBQ Materials product portfolio
The product portfolio includes three bio-based sustainability additives and material replacements, each tailored for different sustainability needs, encompassing circularity, recyclability, low-carbon footprint, and climate-positivity:
- UBQ ClimaPos™: A bio-based, climate-positive sustainability additive that enables greenhouse gas removal and avoidance and assists companies in achieving or surpassing ambitious climate objectives. With proven uses, including planters, pet carriers, transport boxes, and window profiles, incorporating as little as 5%, UBQ ClimaPos™ can shift products’ carbon footprints to carbon neutrality.
- UBQ Q Series: The proven, standard material replacement known as UBQ™, the Q Series is a one-to-one material swap that blends with most polymers. It can be used across industries, including automotive and mobility, building and construction, and logistics and supply chain management applications and is suitable for use on its own where final product characteristics permit.
- UBQ Industrial: A material replacement engineered for high-value function and reliability in operational uses, from shipping pallets in logistics to bitumen roofing or building infrastructure, UBQ Industrial is a cost-effective material choice when appearance matters less than functionality.
These primary formulations can be combined with additional modifiers or enhancers to achieve desired properties, optimizing product development, and reducing guesswork for product manufacturing. Supporting formulations for additional benefits include:
- UBQ Nclozur™: A sustainability modifier formulated for odor mitigation, ideal for indoor and interior applications, which can include automotive interiors, consumer products, flooring, footwear and carpet backing.
- UBQ Impact: An enhancer that blends with a range of polymer matrices to meet performance requirements, enabling business to bring climate-positive circularity to applications as diverse as decking, office furniture, and car-door mirrors.
By incorporating as little as 5% of a UBQ material replacement or additive, businesses can – whether in a single product application or across supply chains – achieve greater circularity, carbon neutrality, or even carbon-negative/climate-positive status. By designing products with various load levels and capabilities, UBQ enables businesses to achieve productivity goals while transitioning away from fossil-based plastics.
“For years, we have worked with our customers through trials and application development. We’ve developed this portfolio to streamline the journey towards circular manufacturing practices,” said Gil Felus, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Innovation Officer of UBQ Materials. “With this, sustainability to profitability becomes a simple equation.”
Customer Feedback
Positive comments from the field include the following:
David Schwartz, VP, PepsiCo Labs: “Our goal is to transform our entire supply chain to tackle the sustainability challenges the world faces. UBQ Materials’ waste-based thermoplastic reduces landfill waste, prevents emissions, and takes us towards circularity, which is why we are working towards scaling use of UBQ™ globally.”
Marie Tarrisse, Head of Social Impact and Sustainability at the Brazil Division of Arcos Dorados: “When Arcos Dorados began the cooperation with UBQ Materials, we challenged the team to find applications to use UBQ™ throughout our McDonald’s branches and supply chain. Our collaboration has been an important part of our approach to building sustainable operations and is setting a new standard for environmental responsibility in the restaurant sector.”
Jonathan Plisco, New Business Development Manager of Teknor Apex: “In the race to meet market demand for environmentally conscious materials, we are proud to offer new sustainable options that provide the right balance of performance, manufacturability and economics.”
Birgit Klockenhoff, material research specialist at Mercedes-Benz, says the aim is to solve technical problems during an evaluation process and get to a place where they’re testing practical applications and envisioning which partners they might work with in supporting the offsetting of Mercedes-Benz’s carbon footprint across its supply chain.
The company will work with compounding partners, value chain manufacturers, brand partners and product development teams to tailor the ideal formulation for each specific application.
For more information, visit www.ubqmaterials.com.
Rick LeBlanc, EMBA, is the founder and editor of Reusable Packaging News (subscribe to the free newsletter) and editor of Western Pallet Magazine. A supply chain journalist with more than 30 years of experience, he specializes in pallets, reusable packaging, material handling and related operations. Rick is co-author of Pallets: A North American Perspective and Pallets & Progress: A Collected History of Pallets and Palletized Handling 1922–1945. He is also an advisory board member of the Virginia Tech Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design. Read Rick’s full bio.
