THE PROBLEM:
U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, stated that plastic debris in the World's ocean kills more than 1 million sea birds and 100,000 sea mammals every year. A study by Columbia University's Earth Engineering Center for the American Chemistry Council in 2011 found that the overall U.S. post-consumer plastic waste for 2008 was estimated at 33.6 million tons. Of which, 2.2 million tons (6.5%) were recycled, 2.6 million tons (7.7%) were burned for energy, and 28.9 million tons (85.5%) were discarded in landfills. On top of the appalling percentage of plastics that does not get recycled, even when plastic is recycled, its performance decreases because of the degradation of the polymer within the recycling process. Thus, to get recycled plastics to the same performance level as virgin plastics, expensive and toxic chemical additives are added.
THE SOLUTION: MINIWIZ Upcycling Material Technology
MINIWIZ uses its philosophy of 100% Trash reengineered materials to solve the plastic problem. Using patent pending technology, we extract silica from agricultural waste, such as barley or rice husks, to create Agro-silicia, an additive which can be used to enhance the performance of recycled plastics. Argo-silica forms inter-molecular bonds with polymer particles, creating a material that is stronger than its virgin counterpart, with increased production workability and fire-proofing performance, all without toxic chemical additives.
With the increase in production workability, products made of MINIWIZ technology are able to reach high physical performance strength with delicate form language, thereby reducing material usage and production time during the manufacturing process. MINIWIZ further takes advantage of our material's attributes by using precise, calculated geometric folds in our products.
In addition, due to the vast supply of agricultural waste, Agro-silica defies the current prejudice that eco-technologies are not currently economical for the mass market.
INTRODUCING POLLI-BER
MINIWIZ's revolutionary material, POLLI-BER, is a class of materials which combines Agro-silica with post-consumer plastics. The material is applicable to a variety of uses from building façades, to consumer products such as the Re-Wine, our award winning wine carrying case, and Re-Case, a iPhone 4/4s cover made from 100% Trash. For more on POLLI-BER, please click here.