Amazon climate tech fund backs Genecis to turn food waste into bioplastics

The cleantech-focused corporate venture capital program aims to support the development of sustainable technologies and services that will help Amazon meet its net-zero carbon goal. A December 2022 report by ocean conservation nonprofit Oceana found that Amazon generated an estimated 709 million pounds of plastic packaging waste globally in 2021, an 18 percent increase from the previous year. Amazons own estimate regarding the firms plastic packaging footprint in 2021 came in at about 214 million pounds, under a third of the amount calculated by Oceana.Amazon principal materials scientist Alan Jacobsen said that investing in solutions like Genecis bioplastics is part of Amazons broader strategy to reduce single-use plastic.A recent study by Back to Blue warned that without significant policy interventions, global plastic consumption could nearly double by 2050. As BNN Bloomberg reported in December, a global treaty to address the issue of plastic pollution is coming soon, which could stand to benefit both the environment and bioplastics firms like Genecis.According to Yu, Genecis typically partners with clients by custom-designing polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)-based polymers and products that meet the material specifications of oil-based polymers or products currently in use in a partners supply chain.PHA is biodegradable and compostable, and able to meet the same technical specs as traditional plastics, making it a sustainable choice for active packaging or product development, Yu told BetaKit.In August 2022, Genecis secured $7 million USD in Series A funding led by Khosla Ventures and BDC Capital through its second cleantech fund. The Y Combinator graduate also nabbed an additional $3 million credit facility from Silicon Valley Bank.Since then, Yu said Genecis has grown its team to 45 employees and beta-launched its first product, socks using PHA-infused fibres, with plans to release more PHA offerings this year.