Plastics in my Tummy

Catia Bastioli is an Italian scientist, turned entrepreneur, who obtained her degree in Chemistry from the University of Perugia. She started her career as a material scientist at the Montedison chemical group, searching for biodegradable plastics from renewable sources. When the traditional business model the company followed failed, and the business disintegrated, Catia Bastioli transformed her research division into an independent unit, and then into a new enterprise called Novamont. She remains committed to the creation of a biochemistry industry, with a family of biodegradable and compostable bioplastics known as Mater-Bi, which is based on resources that do not compete with food sources. Catia and her team have progressed from bioplastics to the design of local economic development programmes based on locally available feedstocks. These feedstocks (bulk raw materials) include waste streams from agriculture as well as weeds.

Catia took the transformation of the industry one step further with the conversion of defunct industrial sites, known as stranded assets, into productive units. She holds over 100 patents related to biopolymers, demonstrating that from rethinking plastic bags for shopping, one can create innovations that offer new solutions for the land and the ocean. Catia was named the European Inventor of the Year, in 2007.