BindEthics: The start-up story that sticks

Callum Smith is in his final year of a Materials, Science and Engineering degree at the University of Birmingham and he is one of three co-founders who form innovative adhesive start-up BindEthics. 

Callum, together with co-founders Michael Wolzak (CFO) and Marcia Garcia (CEO) are developing an innovative bio-adhesive derived from food waste that can replace a range of adhesives with an initial focus on formaldehyde-based glues used to manufacture engineered wood products.

Callum: This adhesive will be both sustainable and possess recycling capabilities unknown to this industry whilst maintaining the physical properties, scalability and manufacturability set by industrial standards at a market competitive price.

Preliminary research has indicated an 86% smaller carbon footprint when compared to the market standard.

Our innovation and proposed solution, which has now completed its proof of concept, does not suffer from any of the general drawbacks of competing bio-adhesives based on soy, lignin, and algae. 

Specifically, the raw material my adhesive is derived from can be obtained without
any fluctuation in yield, quality, price and will not compete for wood or arable land as it is derived from the discarded remnants of a current large scale global industry (awaiting patent protection).

BindEthics are one of 38 University of Birmingham founded businesses based at UoB Elevate at The Exchange - the university's start-up incubator programme for growth start-ups in Birmingham city centre. In November, Callum spoke at the UoB Elevate launch which had a focus on Business Engagement, investment and alumni support.

The Exchange will support business growth through four critical streams; mentorship, network access, business space and financial aid. From a business space standpoint, the majority of our facilities are based in Leeds and York at the moment but during my studies I will not have the time to journey up there repeatedly.

Having a space in Birmingham where I can meet clients is essential given some customers fly from all over the world to meet, the least I can provide is a space where we can conduct business outside of my student house. In future, I hope BindEthics will compete with the current petroleum conglomerates and will offer a range of environmentally friendly products centred around sustainability capable of replacing the toxic chemicals we rely so heavily on.

We are looking to raise £250k to fully support the development of our lab, progress the rate of development for new industries and to begin our commercial campaign in Spring 2023. 

We have been lucky enough to receive significant financial support from Innovate UK to continue development of the bio-adhesive however a well-positioned strategic investor or investment group would be invaluable at our current stage.

Find out more by visiting the BindEthics website here.