A new surf wax that's sweet for everyone
There has been an exciting momentum in the design and innovation world towards more sustainable circular design processes; utilising material ordinarily discarded as waste to create something of value.
South African start-up Sucrochem is founded on circularity. Sucrochem developed a method of creating high utility wax from the bagasse waste produced from sugar cane processing, of which 1000+ tonnes typically ends up in landfill from a singular sugar biorefinery in South Africa. One such product is surf wax used by surfers worldwide to keep the grip on their boards or various other cosmetic products such as lipstick, all typically made from petroleum based materials.
Yet, there are often issues with verifying the origins and circularity of a product across its whole journey from waste to shelf - how can we be certain the product really is made from waste?
Enter UK based organisation BlockMark Technologies Ltd. BlockMark are pioneering the use of blockchain technology and digital certificates to verify and track the flow of a product across its supply chain. A decentralised Web3 platform ensures transparency and authenticity of the product, protecting farmer livelihoods and consumers from being ripped off with counterfeit wax containing paraffin.
In this Make or Break critical period for climate action, many businesses recognise the need to understand and disclose the environmental impact of their products across the entire supply chain, with increasing demand from customers for transparency regarding where their products come from. Blockchain can play a really interesting role in tracking a product from its origins and hence verifying its environmental impact.
When Tom and Warwick met in a breakout room in the Scaling Out for Impact programme, a co-venture between Innovate UK and the Technology and Innovation Agency of South Africa and delivered by Liminal, they realised they could join forces. Almost a year later and they are about to launch their co-creation, SWEET SOLE: the world’s first non-petroleum blockchain verified sugar cane surf wax.
Sweet Sole is a brilliant example of harnessing the innovation capabilities of ventures across borders to solve collective challenges; digital innovation in one part of the world fusing and complementing biomaterial innovation in another.
As well as creating sustainable and verifiable products from waste and creating jobs in rural areas, Sweet Sole is also engaging and supporting grassroots surfing and sponsorship and upliftment of young surfers from township communities.
As with the SOFI programme, co-creation and collaboration towards environmental and social impact are the values underpinning all of Liminal’s work. More recently, Liminal have been working with TEDxGlasgow in their Partner’s Climate Action Initiative, bringing together a diverse group of 18 businesses and organisations from different sectors consistently over a year with the ultimate aim of moving together faster through collaboration.
Where else could we connect people, ideas and technology and diffuse the artificial boundaries between sectors to create impact through sustainable circular design processes and international collaborations?