Inteligent Recycling Materials
Circular Economy starts with Recycling
Welcome to N-yform (pronounced any form), a circular economy start-up, that solves a chronic problem and protects the environment for future generations.
Circular Economy starts with Recycling
Welcome to N-yform (pronounced any form), a circular economy start-up, that solves a chronic problem and protects the environment for future generations.
Used Beverage Carton (UBC) is a single-use packaging waste. Paper, plastic and aluminum become a single sheet through the lamination process. Recycling of these food-grade materials through separation is not financially viable and energy recovery through incineration is not advisable due to high aluminum content. To this day - all material separation efforts have proven to be inadequate. The result is contaminated paper, low grade polymer and aluminum rests that cannot be utilized for food-grade packaging again. Millions of tons of this waste end -up in landfills, where natural decay can take up to several hundreds of years.
We take a different approach.
We do not separate, but rather transform
the mixed mass, of all three materials,
first into granules and then into bricks,
insulation plates and chip boards.
The advantages of this process
• saves energy
• saves landfill space
• saves resources & water
• is scalable
• not labor-intensive
• recovers useful raw materials for long term applications.
We give a waste material a new life.
It is a win - win situation for all:
• The environment > as less trees are cut, energy and resources are saved and materials gain a significant life extension.
•The municipalities > as landfill space is saved in a cost effective way
• The consumers > as new materials with insulation properties can be utilized
• Packaging materials and food and beverage producers > as this trusted packaging system gets an end of life strategy in the direction of a full cycle economy.
• Investors in N-yform > as this method is globally applicable, even in third world countries
• Most insulation materials derive from crude oil processing. Thus, they are extremely flammable. Through the high pressure compaction of the lamination process, insulation bricks made out of N-yform hinder the further dissemination of a fire.
• Non flammable insulation materials such as rock wool, require extremely high temperatures and copious processing to manufacture, as compared to the low energy demand of N-yform.
• N-yform has a high paper content and has similar properties to wood rests, thus it can be cost effectively utilized in particle boards without quality issues, saving raw materials and transportation costs.
• N-yform is a lightweight material, that mixed with cement, produces an insulating mortar, useful in high-rise buildings or building-renovations, since weight plays a significant role in the architectural design.
• Insulation materials are in high demand as energy saving is a set goal for humanity, in view of the climate change.
• N-yform products are easy to use, can be fashioned even after installation- as compared to particleboard walling and provide natural transpiration.
• Furthermore, N-yform production units are scalable, can be installed next to waste selection centers, are not labor intensive and consume no exotic additives.
• Last but not least: N-yform production units can be subsidized by the EUROPEAN UNION, as ambitious recycling and cycle economy goals are proclaimed EU targets.
This is a basic outline of the N-yform business model, as an integrated business plan is available upon request.
The N-yform units are scalable according to the local waste potential of an area. Once granules are produced, transportation of the granulates in big bags eg. to particleboard factories or other clients is much easier.
According to our initial plan, N-yform is to substitute wood rests in particleboards for the relevant industry. This is a commodity.
Research of new applications is being conducted at the moment in cooperation with universities and private companies.
The N-yform solution is globally applicable, but each region has its particularities.
Please note, that investments in the recycling sector are being encouraged and subsidized by the EU.
Our innovation involves a multidimensional task:
On the one hand, the variety of possible applications and products and on the other hand, the ease of supply of the waste material, create a matrix, that involves geographic, legal and economic parameters that play an important role in our market approach strategy
• Paper and wood rests have similar properties
• We do not have to invent something new.
• Paperboards and particleboards are widely used.
• In cooperation with a specialist company, we succeed into substituting 30% of wood chip rests with N-yform, without quality issues.
• Wood chip is a commodity. A new material is expected to provide an advantage to the potential client.
Our go-to market strategy foresees a market research, a trend research, a comparison of geographic and economic characteristics of each market, a first round of meetings with potential clients, an estimation of the client acquisition cost etc.
In the particleboard industry, we have established a true value of our N-yform granules.
Furthermore, through our market research effort, we established the cooperation of a specialist company in the particleboard industry. This reputable advocate of our product, possesses deep knowledge of the relevant market and numerous partners worldwide.
Thus through this favorable turn of events, N-yform has made the leap from a proof of concept to a trustworthy product, even before actual market penetration.
There have been similar efforts in the past. For example https://www.heraklith.com , a company now owned by Knauf, that uses wood chip rests in order to form insulation plates.
Furthermore, other alternative building materials (hempcrete https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hempcrete ), in Switzerland and North America, have used plant rests with lime, in order to produce eco-friendly housing.
The advantages are many. Good isolation and humidity control. Also good transpiration. Another advantage is that such a building has actually a negative carbon footprint since all these materials bind carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere into a long term application as a house or a building that may well “live” for over 150 years
N-yform is a similar paper based material that can be utilized to all of the above uses. With one more advantage: it removes masses from their route to the landfill, where paper would probably not decay for as much as 450 years due to its lamination.
At the moment, recycling through separation is being applied in test units, in Germany and Irland, heavily or exclusively funded by beverage carton manufacturers, in order to achieve recycling targets. This process uses water and energy, in order to dissolve the paper from the rest materials.
The resulting three lines of “products”, are disappointing as this paper cannot be used for food grade packaging again and the resulting plastic is contaminated with aluminum.
The aluminum rest-flakes can also not be used in a financially sensible way and end up as raw material for the cement industry. A Polish company uses this aluminum plastic rest called polyal for third world roofing projects.
N-yform Bricks
Our technology difference consist in the fact that we achieve to transform the paper waste flakes or blades, into granules. The granular form enhances agglutination and N-yform can practically take any form with less additives, pressure and energy.
The process starts with homogenization of the collected material and is not sensitive to impurities (except from stones or metals that usually are separated beforehand). Biological rests are treated and neutralized and the mix is mechanically transformed into a granular raw material, with a fraction of the energy used for example for rock wool a widely used insulation material.
N-yform can then be easily transported in big bags and stored for years without material degradation.
Today we have test samples that are one decade old, cement bricks that float and nonflammable paper-bricks, that will not spread fire further.
Our R&D department continues to develop applications and improve their characteristics until these are market ready.
So far our startup has:
• Applied for patent (pending)
• Established a cooperation with the Metsovion University of
• Athens on research of new insulating building brick.
• Established that 30% substitution of wood chip with N-yform is possible without quality issues and received a Letter of Intend from a specialized consulting company in the particleboard sector. This fact gives N-yform a price as raw material in a particular industry sector, which is a commodity.
• Cooperated with a large cement factory in the research on a new lightweight insulating mortar for special applications (eg. floor heating)
• Participate at the MITEF Startup accelerator contest - Semifinals
Our Motivation springs out of the realization that we live in a world with finite resources. Also from the consciousness that humanity has to move towards a cycle economy if we are to bequeath a better world to the future generations. We are also profoundly aware of the single use plastics issue and the unsuccessful efforts of the industry so far.
Today we live in a world of rapid social media exchange, where informed citizens can self-organize, take actions and even tear down entire industry sectors (like straws).
Our Target is to introduce an end-of-life strategy for paper based single use packaging solutions, that get landfilled day after day all around the globe.
Contact Us to learn more about our innovation and how you can benefit from working with us.
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