Naturbeads’ biodegradable alternative to plastic microbeads could reduce microplastic pollution in our oceans, so that traces from suncream, cosmetics and other personal care products don’t end up in your fish fingers. The technology to create the cellulose microbeads was developed at the University of Bath by Professors Janet Scott and Davide Mattia from the Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies in 2017. They co-funded spin-out company Naturbeads in 2018 to commercialise the technology together with Dr Giovanna Laudisio, CEO of the company. Naturbeads has now been awarded funding by a partnership between UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Sky Ocean Ventures (SOV), through the Plastic Research and Innovation Fund.
It will receive £582,842 to build and test a scaled-up prototype rig for the manufacture of cellulose microbeads used in cosmetic and personal care products.