Montreal’s Pyrowave a finalist for prestigious GreenTec Award

Montreal’s Pyrowave has been announced as a finalist for a prestigious GreenTec Award, sometimes referred to as the world’s biggest environmental and business prizes.

The Greentec Awards, which are this year celebrating their tenth anniversary, will take place May 12 in Berlin. Categories include Construction & Living, Energy, Communication, Lifestyle, Mobility, Recycling & Resources, Travel, Sports, and Textiles & Fashion. Pyrowave is one of ten companies up for a startup award that is intended to go to “young green entrepreneurs that contribute to the protection of the environment with their projects, products, or initiatives.”

Pyrowave, which has received financial support from BDC, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, and the Quebec Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, uses microwave technology to return plastics to their initial constituents, which can later be re-used to make virgin polymers and packaging. CEO Jocelyn Doucet, who holds a Chemical Engineering Degree and Ph. D. from Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique says much more can be done in the worldwide effort to recycle plastics.

“Our unique technology recovers monomers and wax that are then re-used to make new polymers and packaging. With this technology, it is finally possible to close the plastic loop and become more efficient with our resources” says Jocelyn Doucet, CEO of Pyrowave; “After more than 6 years of work, our technology is now functional and proven at commercial scale. Our technology draws attention from the entire petrochemical industry because it solves one of their central problems. While more than 50% of plastics manufactured today are used for packaging, it is very difficult to introduce recycled plastics in packaging applications and fully reach our goals of recycling. With our technology, this is possible, while also being profitable and environmentally-friendly”

Past GreenTec Award winners include Elon Musk, Car2Go, and environmentalist Morten Harket, whom many will know as the lead singer of Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha.

You can vote for Pyrowave here.