This Toronto 28-year-old received a chunk of Amazon's $2B fund for her tech company
Amazon invested a portion of a $2-billion climate fund earlier this month in a company created by a 28-year-old Toronto scientist who turns food scraps into alternative plastics.
Luna Yu, CEO and founder of Genecis, says she dove into the bioplastics world at 22-years-old. At the time, her budget was dismal and approach was scrappy – but creative, as she put it.
“We went out to Canadian Tire and bought a couple of rice cookers, and then we actually retrofitted the rice cookers and made them into bioreactors ourselves,” Yu told CTV News Toronto.
The makeshift gadget she created as a fresh University of Toronto graduate emulated the aim of her company-to-be, Genecis.
“It’s super simple. It's almost like brewing beer, right? All you have to do is to actually feed food waste as a sort of energy source or food to bacteria,” Yu explained.
That bacteria consumes sugars and fatty acids from the organic waste. As it metabolizes, the bacteria converts food scraps into a biodegradable called Polyhydroxyalkanoate, or simpler, PHA.
A reactor growing PHA is photographed at the Genecis lab (Supplied). From there, PHA is extracted, purified and compounded into pellets, which are injected into molding machines to make an alternative to single-use plastics, like food and medical packaging.
“One product that we sort of experimented with launching ourselves last year is in a textile market,” Yu said. Instead of making polyester shirts out of traditional synthetic plastics, Yu uses PHA as a replacement.
With a chunk of Amazon’s $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund secured, Yu is aiming to integrate her sustainable, biodegradable alternative to plastic into Amazon’s supply chain.
Genecis employees working at the office lab (Supplied). She could not disclose the amount of money received. An Amazon spokesperson told CTV News Toronto the investment in Genecis came from the fund’s $50 million Female Founder Initiative, but could only confirm these investments range from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.
“That's going to be able to help us altogether amplify our overall impact, right? Because our goal in the next 10 years is to essentially make PHAs as ubiquitous as possible,” Yu said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
2-hour wildfire evacuation notice issued for some Fort McMurray neighbourhoods
A wildfire evacuation alert for some Fort McMurray residents has been updated to a two-hour evacuation notice.
LIVE NOW Sask. RCMP provide update on 'significant' sexual assault, child exploitation investigation
Saskatchewan RCMP are set to provide an update on what the service calls a 'significant' sexual assault and internet child exploitation investigation.
Maximum payout for LifeLabs class-action drops from $150 estimate to $7.86
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
American sought after 'So I raped you' Facebook message detained in France on 2021 warrant
An American accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, 'So I raped you,' has been detained in France after a three-year search.
Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
1 killed, 3 injured in head-on crash on Hwy. 417 in Ottawa
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.
Significant police presence as Israeli flag flies at Ottawa City Hall
The Israeli flag is flying at Ottawa City Hall today to mark the country's national day, with plans to hold a private ceremony to mark Israel's Independence Day. There is a significant police presence at City Hall, including security barriers outside the main doors.