Sustainability by materials, circularity and digitalisation

A large corporate, leader in its field, developing & manufacturing utensils for professional cleaning is looking for its future partners to reinforce its sustainability strategy by materials, circularity & digitalisation.

We are looking for Start-ups, SMEs, Large corporates or Research Organisations to tackle challenges in the fields of materials (textile & hard plastics), circularity, logistics or digital solutions. The objective is to initiate partnerships in concrete use case scenario and deploy the solutions in a timeframe of 1 to 3 years. All kinds of partnerships can be considered. The innovation by cross-fertilization is welcome, consequently, unless specifically noted, the proposed technologies do not necessarily need to be proven in the area of cleaning but have potential for transfer. The objective is to operate in a large volume market and products are distributed worldwide; the scalability of the solution is an important criterion.

7 new business opportunities

New business opportunities

Challenge 1

Recycled or renewable material in textile

Our customer is producing microfiber wipes and mops from a variety of materials in non-woven, woven and knitted textile. The ultimate goal for our client is to offer products made out of recycled or renewable materials. The priority will be given to microfibers and yarns. We need to partner either with suppliers of microfibers, yarns or textiles, technology experts with IP or know-how in the fabrication of microfibers, yarns or textiles. Raw material such as resin could be acceptable as well. For the latter, if necessary, additional partners will be involved to produce the yarns and textiles. The material processing from the source to the yarn should also be environmentally friendly.

Challenge 2

Recycled or renewable materials for hard plastics

Our customer is producing injection moulded parts mostly out of Polypropylene (PP) and in a lesser extent Polyamide (PA). The ultimate goal for our client is to produce similar parts made out of recycled or renewable materials. We are looking for experts (research organisation, suppliers…) in raw material and knowledge in the related injection processes.

Challenge 3

Circular Design

The strategy of our customer is to evolve from a linear to a circular value chain. It requires a change of paradigm in design to enable a take-back process of products from point of use to recycling. Textile being considered as obvious, for this challenge we are looking for design experts or design concepts to develop « fit for circular » products our of plastics and metal.

Design

Fit for circular: we are looking for expertise to support our customer in the design principles to develop circular products
Joining/assembly for hard plastics and metals: we are looking for technologies or mechanical concepts which will enable easy, tool-less assembly, ensures a sturdy connection over the lifetime of the products and allows easy disassembly of metal and/or plastic parts

Challenge 4

Circular value chain implementation

The strategy of our customer is to evolve from a linear to a circular value chain. For this challenge, we are looking for our future partners for the implementation of a take-back service.

Reclaimers or logistic solutions. The objective is to collect products at their end-of-life, manage the logistics to a recycling factory that will transform the material and reinject it into the value chain. More specifically, for textile, the products are used in professional environments including healthcare. The future partner should be capable to handle wet and/or potentially contaminated textiles.
Recycling partners to close the cycle. The model will be implemented in short term in Europe or Russia, the logistics and recycling partners should operate at least at a regional level in this geographic area. Applications from all over the world are nevertheless welcome.

Challenge 5

Hygiene sensing solutions

We are looking for means to measure or assess the level of dirt/cleanliness of a surface using dedicated sensors and strategies. Ideally, we are targeting the detection of invisible dirt which could be split between detection of fat or an estimate of the bioburden. These sensors or systems could be used as a control means in the cleaning efficiency, or as detectors of dirt. Potential strategies could involve quick sample analysis, all kinds of sensors (deploy and forget), portable devices…

Challenge 6

Disinfection/Sanitation method

The question of surface sanitising/disinfection has become an increasing concern. Efficient disinfection is normally performed with chemicals. We are looking for effective disinfection methods or systems capable to achieve a better than log 3 reduction. The method should be either chemical-free or leaving no residues on the treated surface.

Challenge 7

Reusable packaging solution

Shipping a large number of products can generate a significant amount of cardboard. We would like to identify a packaging concept that would be designed for reuse minimising the impact on weight or dimensions compared to the current packaging in use. The typical dimension of the boxes would range from 20x20x20cm to 50x50x120cm.

Regis HAMELIN

BLUMORPHO
CTO
hamelin@blumorpho.com

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