During our annual event, we asked you to tell us your stories; of creative challenges, ideas, and successes. In collaboration with DARE Clan, this storytelling series introduces creative entrepreneurs from around the world, telling us the impact and change they bring about, all in their own words.

This week, we meet Nathalie Berezina, senior scientist, founder, and CEO of Norbite. Norbite transforms plastic waste into sustainable goods by means of an insect-based biorefinery, circulating around the farming and use of the greater wax moth larvae – the Galleria mellonella.

This is Nathalie's DARE Story.
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‍Upcycling plastic waste into healthy food: Dare to dream big – and dare to make those big dreams happen!‍

While looking at nature, it is fascinating to notice how everything is well-equilibrated and perfectly balanced. The leftovers of one species are consumed by another one, and then another one, and another one, forming a sort of ideal Mobius loop with no waste accumulation and no deficit creation.

As humans, we are not always as efficient and sometimes tend to accumulate leftovers that become waste and pollution. For example, we accumulate a huge amount of plastic waste – up to 300 million tons every year. At the same time that humans produce excruciating amounts of waste, there are more than one billion(!) individuals that suffer from different kinds of malnutrition. Are these problems related? Not sure; but if we could address them both, that would be really fantastic. 

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I left a stable, good job – as well as most of my professional network – back in France when I moved to Sweden. To decide what to do and where to go, I started mapping out my accomplishments so far. After the completion of my PhD, I had worked in the bioplastic field in Belgium for almost 10 years; and then moved to France to work within the hatching insect industry. As I was pondering my career prospects, I remembered one scientific article from 2017, where researchers presented this extraordinary discovery – some insects were able to digest plastic bags. And that was it! The discovery corresponded exactly to the combination of my education, training, and previous experience and, yes – it was, indeed, something fantastic!

This is how Norbite was born – to transform a laboratory curiosity in a tangible benefice for larger populations.

How? By using the greater wax moth larvae – the Galleria mellona – and letting it digest plastic waste.

Yet, having a good idea is far from enough from making it successful. From my experience within the plastic industry, I knew that one of the main issues when it comes to recycling is the process of sorting; and from my experience within insect industry, I learned that rearing the insects at industrial scale remained a challenge. Our first efforts were directed towards these known technological challenges – and we managed to successfully overcome them.

Now, we have the possibility to safely handle waste streams coming from different industries, such as packaging, textile, or even furniture, including very recalcitrant materials such as mattresses. And, even better than that, the extraordinary capacity of the insects to digest more than 80% of commonly used plastics, allows us to handle the lasting waste streams – and after that, everything that can be recycled has been sorted out! Our system is therefore complementary to the other plastic-recycling techniques.

At the same time, several research groups across the world presented research that unambiguously showed that the way the wax moth larvae digest plastic materials leaves no plastic or micro plastic at the end of the process, meaning none were found inside the insects’ body or poop.

It was found that the insects transform plastic into proteins and lipids – which could be used for food, feed, and organic farming, thus covering various aspects of sustainable food production.
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One year after starting Norbite, we have accomplished many things – developed the technology, improved the business case, and even gained some recognitions and awards. 

Yet we also had to overcome many difficulties – both expected and unexpected ones. We have been desperate and excited several times per day, but every single day we wake up with the conviction that we must go forward, we must continue and make this fantastic dream a reality. 

I would say, it is important to dream, to work hard to make your dream true, and then, eventually, one day it becomes a reality.

So, dare to dream big, and dare to fulfill those big, those incredible dreams, just… just dare to make them happen!

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This article is written by Nathalie Berezina, in collaboration with DARE Clan and xPlot.

To read more about Berezina and Norbite, you can visit their website: norbite.eu or read our in-depth interview: A Green Revolution with Plastic-Digesting Larvae – This is Norbite

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Cover photo via Nathalie Berezina.

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