2024

• January

  40% growth in turnover versus 2022. Team growth with 4 new employees in Production and HR to start Q1 of 2024. New TriggerPlastic product RHEOLAN(R) tested and approved for further R&D.

• February

  350.000 ECO Coins will be made for use in Festival. Reactors are producing perfect batches at the beginning of this new year. Start of new project: Polywave

2023

Impressive increase in production capacity

The ability to produce 1 ton per week of FORTAN® using our 'Magni' reactor demonstrates substantial progress in our manufacturing capabilities. The successful operation of our reactor also signifies advancements in design and process optimization. Increasing production capacity while maintaining efficiency is a notable achievement that highlights our team's technical expertise and innovation!

• May

  The "first multi-ton order" for B4Plastics marks a milestone in the evolution of the Bio Economy. This achievement signals a breakthrough moment for both the company and the broader industry as it takes significant steps towards a more sustainable and eco-friendly future.

• September

  B4Plastics is awarded: "International High Potential 2023".

• October

  We enlarged our production hall recently with 70m² of pilot installations. Continuous growth = Continuous innovation = Continuous drive to make the permanent leap towards the new Bio Economy!

2022

Becoming a Hero

Winner of the ‘Food Planet Prize’ and the ‘Cleantech Hero Materials 2022 award’. Closing of our Investment Round A with global aerosol dispensing expert LINDAL Group GmbH and the EIC Fund (European Innovation Council). Team of 24 employees.

2021

Technologies and Teams

Establishing dedicated teams to manage the various aspects of the company, B4Plastics develops its key competencies in R&D, sales and production, and expands into biotechnology with a new laboratory.

• January

  B4Plastics starts building its Biotech Laboratory, to focus on the degradation of the B4P biopolymers, while the team at B4Plastics starts to organize in different divisions: R&D, Sales and Production, supported by Legal, Financing and HR.

• February

  B4Plastics decides to build the first Specialty Bioplastics Production Facility in the world, located in Belgian Limburg, and at the same time gets support of an Operator Expert team to start up the unique Technology Platforms and to design, install and start up their new production facilities. Meanwhile, the Polymer Architecture lab is supplied with analytical equipment, to step up the characterization of the B4P prototype polymers.

• March

  New EU legislation on banning plastic straws has major consequences for Biorix® but also provides an opportunity for B4Plastics' Sales department to pivot and target new consumer markets.

• April

  B4Plastics pitched at The Big Score Sessions, demonstrating its Technology Platforms and market ambitions. In April, B4Plastics also hired its first dedicated technical operator who joined the production team to manage pilot equipment and upscaled production of the Technology platforms. Also the SAP program becomes operational and supports both the B4Plastics front and back office.

• May

  B4Plastics director, Stefaan De Wildeman, pitches to the European Innovation Council and investors. And the VIPRISCAR Project comes to a close: a landmark EU project, comprising 3 years of innovative research into upscaling the synthesis of biobased polyurethane and polycarbonate precursors, is finalised with great results

• June

  The new Biotech Laboratory opened its doors to to study the end-of-life behavior of the B4P biopolymers in-house, by focusing on (bio)degradation and studying microbial interactions.

• September

  Our second B4Plastics Summer School with the entire company, including PhDs, not only enforced the team spirit, but also highlighted our gender balance. B4Plastics enters in the CrossRoads2-Interreg Vegan Leather project to offer sustainable and ethical alternatives to leather. And B4Plastics pitches at the Pitch Perfect and Boost the European Bioeconomy 2021 event in Brussels and extends its network in the EU bioeconomy.

• October

  A month for triple nomination: B4Plastics is announced as 1 of the 4 finalists for Scale-Up of the Year, a Prize of the Flemish Government. Stefaan joins the 3 day workshop as 1 of the 9 BEyond 2021 laureates and finally B4Plastics gets nominated as 1 of the 6 finalist for the Curt Bergfors Food Planet Prize, the largest monetary award in the global food arena, for its efforts in the design and development in biobased and biodegradable fishing gear.

2020

Unprecendented Growth

Moving into the new base of operations, B4Plastics achieves growth like no other: building a new laboratory, launching a new website, reaching 10 employees and 14 million Biorix® straws sold in shops.

• April

  During the start of the Corona crisis in Europe, B4Plastics opens its first own laboratory in Belgium, building the largest physical library of novel ecological plastic materials worldwide.

• April

  Biorix® Certified is the first bioplastic straw worldwide to be certified "OK Home Compost": the product becomes accessible and affordable to every Belgian via Colruyt shops.

• May

  Design and construction of the first ton-scale production plant for FortePlastics and TriggerPlastics, the 2 unique and customizable materials platforms of B4Plastics.

• June

  B4Plastics increases sales by factor 15 in less than 36 months: it becomes the fastest growing bioplastics company in the world.

• June

  The new headquarter is opened: it will become the place where new specialty biomaterials are designed and developed "from gram to ton" at the highest speed and highest accuracy available in the market.

• July

  Because of its fast growth, a central software platform goes in first preparation to allow further expansion of the company. The team hits its first 10 employees by Summer 2020, and the first satellite activity is started in Switzerland to make novel biomaterials from local agro-waste sources.

• July

  In full summer and between two Corona crisis waves, B4Plastics organizes its first Summerschool.

• July

  B4Plastics is selected by the European Innovation Council to join the 2% top league of European Green Deal Scale-Ups: this boosts the investments and creates acceleration on top of the strong growth.

• November

  14 Million Biorix® straws find their way to Colruyt shops: it allows all Belgian people to toast on the end of a Corona year, and to welcome a greener future!

• December

  The new website is launched shortly before Christmas: it is a most illustrative website hinting at the whole development from ideation to full implementation of a new biomaterial. B4Plastics has become the first polymer architecture company ever. "Plastics on demand", does that exist? Of course, and it seems an essential key to the creation of the New Plastics Economy!

• December

  Despite the Corona crisis, B4Plastics realizes strong growth, ending its 2020 book year with 15-fold higher sales than in 2017, making it one of the fastest growing bioplastics companies worldwide.

2019

From Prototypes to Products

B4Plastics begins designing a second pilot plant for the manufacture of novel precursors while mobilising a production team to supply Biorix® and develop prototype specialty polymers.

• March

  The second pilot plant is designed and will start production of novel building blocks for renewable polycarbonates and polyurethanes by September 2019.

• June

  B4plastics creates its first small production team for supplying Biorix® and for accelerating its prototyping activities to customers worldwide. The production team starts a study for upscaling specialty polymers at B4plastics to ton-scale.

2018

The First Employees

Becoming a job provider for two expert technicians and a new Masters graduate, B4Plastics begins producing its first generation of FortePlastics at kg scale in the newly constructed pilot plant.

• February

  On 27th February 2018, Stefaan De Wildeman openly announces his leave from Maastricht University and his role in the BioBased Materials Master program of AMIBM. Only one course of Industrial Biocatalysis at the Catholic University of Leuven is continued to keep the connection with the next generation of students and professionals.

• April

  In early 2018, the first three employees are hired by B4Plastics: two very experted technicians and a first Master in BioBased Materials… the first graduated from the new Master Program at Maastricht University.

• September

  B4Plastics becomes the first company to prototype its first generation of "FortePlastics" at kg scale in its own designed pilot plant: "the strongest materials ever made that are degradable in natural habitats like soil".

• December

  The company acquires over 20 development partners and 10 contracted customers in Europe: the fast and accurate prototyping becomes the main differentiator of the young company, giving a designed balance between cost - sustainability - functionality for niche applications.

2017

Production and partnerships

B4Plastics steps onto a new playing field: this year, the company entered into three new European partnerships to develop new plastics and biocatalysts, while simultaneously releasing two product lines, Compost3D® and Biorix®.

• January

  B4Plastics enters its first partnership with Flemish companies to develop biocatalysts for ecological materials production.

• May

  Launch of Compost3D®, a biodegradable printing filament: the first plastic product ever coming with a smartphone app calculating the degradation speed from the design of the printed articles. The press release is the second most consulted news on the Flemish business channel Kanaal Z on May 16th 2017.

• July

  Biorix® is prototyped: the first biodegradable straws that are designed and manufactured in Flanders.

• December

  On December 15th 2017, B4Plastics signs 2 partnerships with European consortia to develop unprecedented plastic materials. The same evening, founder Stefaan De Wildeman decides to leave his academic Professorship Chair of Novel Building Blocks at Maastricht University, to dedicate the rest of his professional life to B4Plastics.

2016

The First Prototypes

B4Plastics began the development of its very first prototypes: transparent degradable plastics.

• March

  Founder Stefaan De Wildeman starts the first prototyping of degradable materials in his garden greenhouse.

• June

  He acquires a Postgraduate in Business Administration from Hasselt University, Belgium.

• December

  The first transparent degradable plastics are prototyped in the greenhouse, which becomes the first small laboratory of the company.

2015

Building the B4Plastics Design

Deciding on the company's direction and appearance defined this year, with the B4 concept enshrined in the new company logo.

• April

  On top, a "Blue Ocean strategy" is followed with BioBased Building Blocks: B4plastics decides to only make new ecological plastics that were never made before.

• August

  The B4Plastics logo is developed, a stylistic leaf design formed from the letter B and the number 4, referring to the unique "B4" (BioBased Building Blocks) technology platform used for customized polymeric backbone construction.

2014

The Very Beginning

B4Plastics is founded by Stefaan De Wildeman, with the aspiration to create new environmentally friendly plastics for a better planet.

• January

  Stefaan De Wildeman founds B4Plastics, "a company with the mission to create the next generation of ecological plastic materials".

• July

  B4Plastics explores the local Flemish Chemical Industry for product development and partnerships.

• September

  B4Plastics decides to start its product development in niche applications, such as trimming lines and drinking straws.