Pluumo: A reusable thermal packaging material made from surplus feathers

Feathers
Type of organisation or company
Country
United Kingdom
City
London
Language for original content
Sector
Submitted by
Technopolis Group
Ongoing
Yes
Description

Ask any passing duck: feathers are good insulators

After washing and cleaning, Pluumo transforms the feathers into a textile used for packaging. Current thermal packaging is dominated by environmentally-damaging products such as polystyrene, derived from petroleum resources and taking hundreds of years to degrade. By using surplus feathers cleaned to hypo-allergenic standards, Pluumo does not deplete non-renewable resources and, as its other components are also biodegradable (a compostable binder and an outer film made of starch-based material), it has vastly improved end-of-life options. Pluumo has been designed to match the performance of other leading insulation materials such as polystyrene.

Main activity field
Main results
  • Pluumo is totally compostable, as the majority of it is made of a natural material (feathers) and the remaining materials are certified as compostable as per EN13432.
  • The company’s recycling programme not only reuses materials, but decreases the need to make new packaging
  • Customers can send used liners back to Pluumo (who also pay for the return postage), or drop them off at one of 7 400 locations in the UK, to continue their life cycle as the used materials are reprocessed into new liners.