The world’s oceans have a plastic problem; it’s been predicted that in just a few decades the plastic in the oceans will outweigh all the fish. UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) startup Nereid Biomaterials has a solution.
The company, founded in 2022, is using marine microbes to design ocean-degradable materials. Nereid’s groundbreaking bioplastics fully degrade in marine environments, leaving no microplastics behind. Using a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) base made by bacteria, accelerated degradation begins upon triggered exposure to seawater. Additives are embedded in the material, allowing Nereid to fine-tune how fast it breaks down. This means that instruments can be designed to degrade on a specific schedule, depending on their purpose.
Nereid was co-founded by Melissa Omand, Anne Meyer, and UCSB’s Alyson Santoro, a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology. The Nereid team consists of material scientists, microbiologists, and oceanographers, working across industry, academia, and government. They are using their marine microbe technology to create tools for ocean sensing aquaculture, and fishing that can fully degrade to carbon dioxide and water, without the creation of microplastics or other harmful byproducts.
Using its PHA material base, Nereid has prototyped materials for the expendable marine sensor MINiature IsOpycNal (MINION) float. Ocean sensors represent an environmental challenge that Nereid is poised to meet.
The company has also fabricated an injection molded buoy for use in aquaculture. Traditional buoys shed microplastics and are often detached, becoming free-floating ocean trash, but Nereid’s buoys are formulated to last only for their required service life. For the fishing industry, Nereid has found a solution for abandoned eel trap entrances (ETE), which make up a large percentage of abandoned and derelict fishing gear. Abandoned ETEs create hazards for marine mammals who become entangled in the equipment or ingest pieces. The company has created injection molded ocean-degradable ETEs that will fully biodegrade in a matter of years.
Nereid recently received a state grant to support adding biodegradable tags to lobster traps, and the company is hoping to raise funds for a pre-seed round.