Plastic. Climate. Future.

Can Design Thinking Change the Future of Plastics?

March 24 · 42 min · Season 4 · Episode 4 · 40.9 MB
0:00-42:34

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What if the future of plastics doesn’t start in a lab, but in a design studio?

In this episode of Plastic. Climate. Future., we speak with Beat Karrer, founder of FluidSolids, who took an unconventional path from industrial design into material innovation — developing high-performance materials made entirely from waste streams.

From corn cobs to coffee waste, his work challenges a fundamental assumption: that plastics must come from fossil resources.

We explore:

How waste streams can become high-performance material feedstock

Why design thinking is a powerful (and often overlooked) driver of material innovation

What it takes to scale new materials — from pilot to industrial production

Why circularity depends on systems, not just materials

A refreshing and grounded perspective on what it really takes to rethink plastics, not just replace them.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!