What if the future of plastics doesn’t start in a lab, but in a design studio?

In this episode of Plastic. Climate. Future., we speak with Beat Karrer, founder of FluidSolids, who took an unconventional path from industrial design into material innovation — developing high-performance materials made entirely from waste streams.

From corn cobs to coffee waste, his work challenges a fundamental assumption: that plastics must come from fossil resources.

We explore:

How waste streams can become high-performance material feedstock

Why design thinking is a powerful (and often overlooked) driver of material innovation

What it takes to scale new materials — from pilot to industrial production

Why circularity depends on systems, not just materials

A refreshing and grounded perspective on what it really takes to rethink plastics, not just replace them.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!