A research team from the University of Northern British Columbia's(UNBC) Northern Analytic Lab Services (NALS) has been working with a Campbell River-based business on developing an environmentally-friendly thermal packaging prototype.
They were awarded $300,000 in funding through the Innovate BC Ignite Award, which will be used to turn the prototype into a commercially viable project. It will also help create 12 new full-time jobs, while sustaining existing positions in rural communities.
It is the second time the project has received this award, first awarded in 2022.
“We’ve been working closely with Brown’s Bay Packing in Campbell River to develop a fully compostable, biodegradable biopolymer packaging for more than four years. Over the course of our research, we identified a quicker path to address the immediate polystyrene foam problem through a recyclable hybrid solution,” said Kazemian, director of NALS and Northern BC’s Environment and Climate Solutions Hub at UNBC.
“This Ignite Award helps accelerate the research and development tracks for what we’re calling Thermoloc – both the hybrid solution and the longer-term, fully compostable solution.”
Brown's Bay Packing was also a recipient of a CleanBC Plastics Action Fund and the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund from the provincial government, helping the company obtain new machinery and retrofit its facility in Campbell River.
“Together, these investments will enable our Seawise Innovative Packaging brand to build out the infrastructure and talent needed to bring Thermoloc to market and meet the growing demand for cleaner packaging solutions,” said Brown’s Bay Packing CEO Jesse Knight. “Our collaboration with UNBC is about more than innovation, it’s about creating economic opportunities in North Island communities and helping to build a more sustainable future.”
As of May 14, the research project, which has two graduate students and two postdoctoral researchers, has received nearly $1.4 million in funding from various sources.
This project reflects the power of university-industry collaboration in creating tangible solutions to an urgent environmental challenge,” said Kazemian. “By mobilizing our biopolymer research into a viable commercial product, we are reducing waste and lowering carbon footprints while creating new, high-quality jobs in rural communities. It’s incredibly exciting to see this partnership become a catalyst for positive change in British Columbia and beyond – we're advancing B.C.’s leadership in clean technology and paving the way for a circular economy.”
