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As the world electrifies, the oil and gas industry is counting on plastics<\/a> to drive profits in the future. But not if Jacob Nathan has anything to say about it.<\/p>\n Nathan started searching for a way to break down plastics when he was still in high school<\/a>. Now, as founder and CEO of Epoch Biodesign<\/a>, he has found a way to use a series of enzymes to \u201ctransform this unnatural waste\u201d into a form ready to make more plastic, he told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, a bale of textile is the equivalent of a barrel of oil,\u201d Nathan said, meaning that waste fabric, not petroleum, is the raw material Epoch starts with. And unlike a barrel of oil, the price of that feedstock won\u2019t depend on the weekly whims of world leaders.<\/p>\n Epoch\u2019s approach centers on breaking down pre- and post-consumer plastic waste into monomers \u2014 the basic building blocks from which plastic is made. To do that, it relies on enzymes, the molecular machinery of cells. But because biology can be fickle, the company uses only the enzymes, not the microbes that produce them. To source the compounds, Epoch is working with industrial suppliers, which already make enzymes by the ton.<\/p>\n By using a cascade of enzyme treatments, Epoch can recover more than 90% of the desired monomers. \u201cThe only thing that\u2019s left over after our process are dyes, which are captured and can be dealt with separately,\u201d Nathan said.<\/p>\n The process is first being applied to nylon 6,6, a high-strength synthetic material that\u2019s used in everything from clothing to airbags to carpets to climbing ropes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the original synthetic fiber. It\u2019s what the guys at DuPont were cooking up. The reason we still use it is it\u2019s really good at what it does. We can\u2019t really replace it in all these applications,\u201d Nathan said.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> The timing couldn\u2019t be better, Nathan said. \u201cIn the last couple of weeks, the price of precursors for nylon 6,6 and for other materials have jumped on a spot price basis by as much as 150%,\u201d Nathan said. By starting with waste textiles rather than petroleum, Epoch can sidestep that volatility entirely. \u201cWhen we\u2019re detaching the production of materials from the extraction, refinement, and volatility that comes from fossil carbon, we can create much more consistency.\u201d<\/p>\n That pitch has resonated with investors, including apparel giant Lululemon, which itself produces mountains of clothing made from plastics. Lululemon recently participated in a $12 million funding round that also included Exantia, Happiness Capital, Kompas VC, and Leitmotif.<\/p>\n The raise will help fund a demonstration-scale facility near Imperial College London; the company plans to follow that with a commercial scale facility that it expects to bring online in 2028 and that should be capable of producing 20,000 metric tons per year of monomer.<\/p>\n Once that\u2019s at full capacity, Nathan said Epoch might start working on recycling other plastics. The technology \u201ccan be repurposed for different types of materials and plastics,\u201d he said. \u201cNylon 6,6 will reach maturity before the others, but we\u2019ve got some exciting stuff in the pipeline.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n