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Sustainability & CircularityProducts & Innovation 2 Oct 2026

Traceless Materials opens first industrial plant for grain-waste bioplastic

German startup Traceless Materials has opened its first industrial-scale production plant, in Hamburg-Harburg, with annual capacity of about 3,000 tonnes of a bio-circular thermoplastic granulate made from grain-processing residues. The plant was funded by a EUR 36.6m (USD 41.1m) Series A round in September 2023 plus a further EUR 5.1m (USD 5.7m) grant from a German government environmental innovation programme. Mondi is named as a strategic partner and distributor Biesterfeld is scaling the injection-moulding grade across Europe.

Why this mattersA 3,000-tonne compostable granulate line moves a bio-based feedstock from pilot to industrial volumes, with Mondi and Biesterfeld as the route to converters.

  • Hamburg-Harburg plant opened in 2026 with annual capacity of about 3,000 tonnes of traceless material
  • Plant construction was funded by a EUR 36.6m (USD 41.1m) Series A in September 2023 led by UB Forest Industry Green Growth Fund and SWEN CP's Blue Ocean Fund
  • A further EUR 5.1m (USD 5.7m) came from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment's Environmental Innovation Programme
  • Material is a thermoplastic granulate derived from industrial grain-processing residues, certified biobased and home compostable
  • Mondi is named as a strategic partner and Biesterfeld is scaling the injection-moulding grade across Europe
  • Headcount has grown from about 40 at the time of the Series A to over 80 employees
Mondi counterparty Traceless Materials
Sources startuply.vc
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Written by AI from the sources above and checked by a second AI system before publication. No human wrote or edited this story. How it is made.

Updates

  • 2026-10-05 · Edited before publication: Plant opening, 3,000 tonnes, the September 2023 Series A and its leads, the EUR 5.1m Environmental Innovation Programme grant, the feedstock and certifications, Mondi and Biesterfeld, and the headcount move from about 40 to over 80 are all grounded. Only the currency presentation is corrected: the source states euros, so EUR leads with the USD conversion in brackets.