Speaker
Description
Planet Earth is 4.6 billion years old. Humans only needed 72 years to produce about 9.2 billion tons of plastics. Only 9 % have been recycled since. In 2016 alone, 23 million tons of plastics entered the ocean. No one knows exactly how much plastics are currently in our lakes, rivers and ocean. Serious studies place the number at 196 million tons. Of this, 43,000 tons are microplastics that float in the surface ocean. The amount of microplastics at depth is unknown. Horrible numbers with catastrophic effects for the ecosystem.
MicroBubbles GmbH was founded in April 2021 as a 100 % daughter company of the German Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND). The start-up is based in Leipzig with multiple research and development sites around Paderborn (OWL). The research is focused on tackling the microplastics problem with innovative technology and pilot plants across scales that are being developed in-house. The ultimate goal is to remove microplastics and micropollutants from any water – surface waters, dams, rainwater retention ponds, waste waters, rivers, lakes and oceans.
In his talk, Roland Damann will report on how MicroBubbles GmbH will reach this goal and how his idea became a business.
