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Success stories from NRW

Nature Compound – replace plastic

Far too much plastic waste in the environment – ​​that also bothers the young entrepreneur Niclas Beutler. With his start-up Nature Compound, he is bringing a plastic alternative made from renewable raw materials to the market. Packaging can be made from this, for example. In 2022, the company received an innovation award for its development.

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The challenge

Niclas Beutler urgently wants to change something. “Every year, up to twelve million tons of plastic waste end up in the oceans,” he says, “and in Germany alone, an estimated 330,000 tons of microplastics are released into the environment per year.” The number of plastic packaging produced in Germany – in 2020 there were 4, 3 million tons - the company founder doesn't like it. He is convinced that there can be tailor-made solutions for a plastics industry without plastic. His vision: a quickly degradable alternative based on paper fibers. And the appropriate process that could be used to produce packaging and other products from the alternative material. The packaging produced in this way would have the same properties as plastic and would therefore be suitable for replacing blister packs such as those used for medicines or small electronic components. In Beutler's opinion, the special ropes that are used in lawn trimmers, for example, do not have to be made of plastic because they wear out and plastic ends up in the ground

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  • Photos: Nature Compound GmbH
  • Text: Lothar Schmitz, business journalist Bonn
  • Publication: June 2024

Niclas Beutler, CEO

“There are around 10,000 plastics processing companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, many of which we want to reach and convince to switch to our alternative material.”

The innovation

In order to make his vision a reality, Beutler founded Nature Compound GmbH in Schwerte. “Compound” means “composite material”, and this is exactly what the young company produces. Depending on the customer's wishes and requirement profile, the materials consist of bio-based or biodegradable polymers and fillers. The granules can be transformed into the desired products using conventional injection molding machines. “The material could also be used in the automotive industry,” says Beutler, “or to produce browsing protection in forestry.” Many other applications are conceivable. “There are around 10,000 plastics processing companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland,” reports Beutler, “we want to reach many of them and convince them to switch to our alternative material.” Nature Compound is currently setting up production and the start-up has a dozen employees in the meantime. A small system is already in place and the company was able to produce the first granulate in December 2023. In the future, this system will be used to produce prototypes and small series according to individual customer requirements. The first large plant will go into operation in April 2024, producing one ton of granules per hour.

More about Nature Compound

The NRW effect

Niclas Beutler comes from Iserlohn and his family runs a business there. But that wasn't the only reason why he would also set up a business in North Rhine-Westphalia. “NRW and the Ruhr area are a good location for a young company because we have an innovative environment here with many universities and research institutions and receive a lot of support,” says Beutler. With his start-up, he benefits, among other things, from NRW.BANK's “Regional Economic Development Program” (RWP), which finances investments in designated development areas in North Rhine-Westphalia that create or secure jobs. Nature Compound also won the 2022 Innovation Prize from the ZENIT e. network. V. “ZENIT” stands for “Center for Innovation and Technology in NRW”. On behalf of the EU, federal and state governments, ZENIT primarily supports small and medium-sized technology-oriented companies as well as universities and research institutions in their innovation activities and brings together potential partners from business and science. The price includes free membership in the ZENIT network and a marketing package.

This success story of an innovative transformation was published in July 2024. There will be no updates or checks of the information afterwards.

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Transformation through innovation

Background to the publication series

The publication series “Transformation through Innovation” is intended to illustrate how companies in North Rhine-Westphalia have been able to write successful innovation stories thanks to the framework conditions created by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

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