Krill harvester launches recycling company
Krill harvester Aker BioMarine has launched a new company to offer products and services to companies with a desire to recycle waste and re-use materials.
The company, AION (Greek for ‘eternity’), will use a capital light and technology agnostic business model and stems from circular initiatives in Aker BioMarine that were focused on plastic waste and production residues.
Aker BioMarine plans to scale AION in three stages. First, Aker BioMarine’s own plastic streams and biological residue will be recycled to new products. Second, AION will work with companies in Aker BioMarine’s network to receive their plastic waste streams. And finally, AION’s ambition is to expand and scale to become an international leader in the evolving circularity space.
The company’s ambition is to spin off AION to its shareholders and separately list the company.
260m tonnes of plastic
Aker BioMarine points out that 260 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated annually worldwide, and that the EU has set a target of 55% recycling of plastic packaging waste within 2030.
According to analytical firm McKinsey, only 16% of plastic packaging waste is recycled today, but additional regulatory tightening is expected.
During 2021, the technical specifications of the EU Taxonomy objective on circular economy will be defined. This is likely to create a pull in the market for recycled products. In order to reach the target of 55% recycling rate in 2030, McKinsey predicts a market size potential of US$60 billion. In this context, Aker BioMarine sees large opportunities for AION.
‘Resources astray’
“There is no such thing as waste, only resources astray,” said Aker BioMarine chief executive Matts Johansen.
“These resources need to find their way into new value chains, contributing to increased resource efficiency while creating value. AION is well positioned to play a key role in unleashing these commercial opportunities.”
AION has already established a value chain and is one of three Norwegian companies that has attained B-Corp certification, an important sustainability certification in US retail. McDonald’s is already an AION customer, using serving trays made of recycled plastics from the ocean.
Shopping baskets
Norwegian supermarket chain Meny has introduced AION shopping baskets made of recycled ocean plastics in some of its stores.
AION, in collaboration with data fusion company Cognite, has also introduced CaaS, Circularity as a Service, which offers a plug and play software solution ensuring traceability, resource optimisation and monitoring of the most central data points for circular product management. Snøhetta will assist AION on future solutions and circularity product design through joint projects.
AION was founded by an Aker BioMarine employee and has now been acquired by the company.
“The world faces several environmental challenges that require industrial solutions. My ambition is to establish AION as a front runner of circular business models,” said AION’s newly appointed chief executive, Haug Khoury.
