Anchored in Sweden, OrganoClick combines organocatalysis and click chemistry to convert readily available post-consumer organics into biopolymers that strengthen paper, wood and textile products. The company continues innovating biopolymers, expanding into the wood, personal care, and outdoor gear markets throughout Europe, the U.S. and Northeast Asia.
Can you explain the building blocks behind OrganoClick’s technology?
I founded OrganoClick 20 years ago together with two Swedish professors. The “organo” stands for organocatalysis and the “click” stands for click chemistry. We were one of the first companies in the world to develop commercial products based on these two green chemistries, which won the Nobel prizes in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
In the organo part, we use small, natural, organic molecules that you can find in fruit, growing plants and trees. These materials catalyze reactions that drive chemical processes with renewable molecules, mainly small organic acids such as fruit acids. In the click part, we attach functional polymers to cellulosic materials like textiles, wood, nonwovens and paper. We use biopolymers derived from oat husks, wheat bran, lemon peels and shrimp shells to create products that provide water repellency, improved strength, fire-retardant properties and greater durability.
How do you collect your feedstocks?
We source most of our raw materials from European suppliers–a big portion from Sweden. The oat industry here is pretty big–we eat a lot of oat porridge in a typical Swedish breakfast. Oat husks are a part of the waste stream and they contain valuable biopolymers that improve material strength. We are extracting much of our materials from what would otherwise be incinerated or used in low-value applications. The same applies to wheat bran remaining after flour production. We source lemon and orange peels from juice producers in Italy and Southern Europe and purify them into biopolymers for use in our products. We have built this supply chain of waste streams over 20 years.
What are OrganoClick’s key products and how are they performing in the market?
Our chemistries replace hidden plastics and hazardous chemicals in many different materials. One major application is water-repellent textiles, where we replace PFAS and fluorocarbons with natural fatty acids found in leaves and other plants. We are first in the world to launch a 100% bio-based water-repellent treatment for textiles, sold as Organotex. Organotex has been on the market for eight or nine years and is growing very well.
Our binder system replaces plastic-based binders in nonwovens, used particularly for hygiene, feminine care and baby care products, where customers are replacing plastic binders with our bio-based binders. We are also developing compostable agricultural textiles and plastic-free food pads for food packaging.
In Europe alone, 15,000 tons of plastics contaminate agricultural soil each year, so I feel strongly about solving this problem. The holy grail is to make this class of products completely bio-based across all industries.
Another niche where our bio-based binder system has been used is to replace the synthetic glue in particle boards in burial coffins. Conventional particle boards are around 15-20% plastic and 80-85% wood particles. The largest coffin manufacturer in Scandinavia wanted an eco-coffin without the glue. The completely bio-based, renewable, plastic-free Saga eco-coffin project took seven years to develop, using an entirely new 3D molding process for pressed cellulosic fiber boards. Part of my gray hair comes from that challenge but we managed to develop a very nice and sustainable product.
How have you navigated Europe's manufacturing challenges, rising energy costs and supply chain disruptions while continuing to scale?
The European industry is in a tough situation right now, particularly in countries like Germany that still rely heavily on natural gas and fossil energy. We are fortunate that Sweden’s energy is almost 100% renewable–a mix of hydro, wind and nuclear power, plus bioenergy. We are still indirectly affected through suppliers and face higher costs every day. There have been different problems to navigate since the coronavirus crisis in 2020. Mitigating risks has become a crucial part of our business. We have built a resilient supply network across several continents and now have at least three suppliers for every type of raw material in at least two continents.
Can you provide an example of sourcing raw materials from different regions?
Biopolymers extracted from wheat bran come from both Europe and Asia. During the first year of the war in Ukraine, energy prices in Europe increased dramatically and prices for raw materials rose by more than 100% in just a few months. We could not sell our products at such high prices. It actually became less expensive to source from Asia–the only way for us to survive. Today, prices have stabilized and we buy most of these materials from Europe again, but we continue to maintain a diversified supply network because events like these keep happening.
What are your priorities for global expansion over the next few years?
We have a good foothold in Central and Northern Europe and are expanding into Southern Europe, Japan, China and the U.S. for our next phases of international growth. Traditional Korean construction uses wood, so we have a distributor of our wood products in South Korea. We also recognize that outdoor activities are very popular there, as they are in Japan. These markets will remain on our radar as interest in PFAS-free outdoor gear continues to grow.
Expanding internationally requires significant preparation because physical products must comply with different national regulations. The U.S. has taken some of the biggest steps toward banning or reducing PFAS in several products, largely because of lawsuits related to health issues. Europe is also moving in this direction. These regulations fit perfectly with our strategy because we started developing PFAS-free alternatives already in 2008. The work we began 18 years ago is now really taking off. We already have projects underway with industrial partners, including major nonwoven companies in the U.S., for meaningful collaborative progress over the next few years.
