#3DStartup: Balena and its Compostable, Biodegradable 3D Printing Materials for the Fashion Industry

The fashion industry is one of the most polluting for our planet, consuming a lot of plastics which are unfortunately all too often thrown away too quickly and in the wrong way. Faced with this building ecological crisis, one young start-up has decided to develop a more sustainable solution to give a second life to our clothes and fashion accessories, Balena, an Israeli company founded in 2020. It develops compostable and recyclable thermoplastic materials, and has notably launched a solution for additive manufacturing. This is its BioCirFlex material, which can be found in filament or pellet form. We caught up with the company’s team to find out more about the characteristics of this polymer and how it could revolutionize the fashion industry.

3DN: Could you tell us more about Balena?

Balena is a materials science company dedicated to the development of compostable and biodegradable thermoplastic materials, founded by David Roubach. Balena’s mission is to create a circular model for consumer goods products and solve one of the fashion industry’s biggest challenges: the products’ end-of- life. David Roubach is a passionate advocate for sustainability and the circular economy, and he is committed to driving positive change in the industry by developing innovative and practical material solutions. Through his leadership of Balena, he is helping to transform the way we produce and consume fashion, and creating a better future for all of us.

Balena develops compostable and biodegradable thermoplastic materials

3DN: How did the company get started?

Today, a whopping 60% of fashion garments are made out of plastic. In the US alone, over 21 billion pounds worth of garments reach their end of life and are sent to landfills or burnt every year. Out of which, only 1% is recycled. Currently, there isn’t a circular, end-of-life solution that can close the loop for these garments and solve the pollution caused to the earth and oceans. Additionally, while demand for bioplastics is ever-increasing, biodegradable polymers available in the market today are not advanced enough to include the features that conventional plastic materials include. Therefore, companies cannot fully replace hazardous, polluting plastics used in their products. Through the development of Balena’s flagship material, BioCir, we’ve created an opportunity to manufacture products that can be taken back at the end of their use and go through decomposition and biodegradation in a controlled compost environment without leaving any waste or contamination behind.