Alarmed by the amount of rubbish they were generating by just drinking coffee and eating cup noodles, two former garments entrepreneurs decided it was time to find an eco-friendly alternative to all the plastic packaging that ends up in landfills globally.
George Chen Dah-ren and Vivian Chang first approached material scientists in Hong Kong and mainland China, and were in 2013 pointed in the direction of Alexander Bismarck, then a Materials Science professor at Imperial College London. The German scientist, now professor at the University of Vienna, later came up with a method for producing a plant-based food packaging material that was sturdy, heat-resistant, oil and waterproof, as well as fully compostable, together with colleagues from City University Hong Kong.
Together, they founded Ecoinno in 2015, to which Bismarck transferred his intellectual property. Chen and Chang were tasked with setting up a supply chain to turn the material into a commercially viable product. The company moved its operations to Hong Kong Science & Technology Park in 2018.
Read More | SCMP
