Positive Plastics Oy, a Finnish start-up, aims to convey a more accepting outlook on plastics to designers, engineers, and product managers. Their platform includes a physical samples kit and an online database with information on each material in the kit. The kit is an invaluable tool for materials understanding and communication between non-technical and technical team members, it is a curated samples collection of various innovative, commercially available polymers. The kit includes post-consumer recyclates (PCR), post-industrial recyclates (PIR), mass balanced grades, bio-based grades, and bio-composites. All grades are suitable for injection moulding to produce durable products, such as consumer electronics, home appliances, sports goods, automotive interiors, accessories, etc.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Positive Plastics: The company is a match-maker between polymer manufacturers and the design industry. It aims to help product design teams to make informed materials selections, based on profound knowledge of sustainability and circular economy of plastics. It promoted polymers with a reduced environmental footprint, ones that were carefully selected to be included in the platform.
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
Positive Plastics: Most design teams in brands, global as well as local, are asked to rethink their design process and materials selection process. Focusing on design for circularity includes many aspects, not only materials selection; reduction of materials, reduction of parts, avoidance of adhesives and coatings, reduction of complexity to facilitate maintenance and repair, etc.
Of course, materials play a very important role in extending the longevity of a product and retaining their value.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
Positive Plastics: We are a startup, but the market we are active at is the plastic industry which is very mature and saturated.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
Positive Plastics: When talking about plastics, we are happy to see a slow-down of virgin polymers usage in favour of alternatives. Here, this highly depends on the end product. Packaging solutions, food packagings, could opt for more bio-based and bio-degradable or compostable materials. Consumer electronic tend to search for materials with a high recycled content that can be recycled again, to make sure the material remains in the technical sphere.