Algix LLC (Bloom)

A Sustainability Company

Could algae, the fish-killing bane of Lake Okeechobee in Florida, Lake Skinner in California, and multiple catfish ponds in Mississippi actually become a valuable product? Algae is being used for everything from yoga mats, surfboard traction pads, to shoes! Where do all these algae come from? Eutrophication. Eutrophication is the environment’s response to us putting too many pollutants in our water resources. Pollutants like fertilizer, run-off from soils being disturbed, and municipal waste from water treatment plants. These pollutants are nutrients (protein) to algae in the environment. So, the algae population explodes and gets so high, it pulls the oxygen out of the water, kills the fish and destroys the ecosystem. Algix either treats the sources of those nutrients, works with water treatment entities to treat their water, or they work with people who are harvesting water out of the lakes. Several test sites in New York, Florida, and California have used the technology of Algix to pull algae out of their water.

Once they get the algae out, they can’t just throw it on a garbage pile somewhere and leave it. It’s going to rot and go back into the same basic nutrients and end up back in the water. So, they are making consumer products. A lot of their customers are in the footwear space using their product for shoe insoles and outsoles. In the U.S. alone, the average person buys up to 5 pairs of shoes every year, fueling a global shoe industry that produces nearly 30 billion pairs of shoes every year. That’s why Algix (Bloom) partners with shoe brands all over the world to implement sustainable materials on a large scale. 

Bloom is known as a sustainable material manufacturer, that is verifiably eco-restorative and is measurably better for the environment. “A large part of our business goals in this area is to conduct a LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) which quantifies exactly how much positive impact you are having on the environment,” states Ashton Zeller, Chief Scientist. “A lot of materials that are renewable, like BLOOM, may not be better for the environment and could be worse. Even though they are coming from  plants, the number of steps necessary to grow them and convert them to a usable forms like a plastic may exceed the environmental impacts of conventional materials. The LCA analyzes all of these steps and lets you know if you are better off making this product.”

Algix was founded in 2010, when co-founders Mike Van Drunen and Ryan Hunt were collaborating on an algae product at UGA to make biodiesel. The UGA engineering department was looking at routes to solve the wastewater issue by growing algae and producing biodiesel from it. That project was not successful because they produced a lot of algae and not a lot of biodiesel. Sometimes you must be flexible and be willing to rethink your approach. “Another professor at UGA told Mike and Ryan that he made plastics out of proteins. They had all this algae with lots of protein in it so they decided to see if they could make a plastic with it. They wrote a grant to pursue that concept and hired me,” adds Ashton. “Ten years later, we are making plastic out of protein. People are buying it because its environmental impact has been certified to be better for the environment and it is not just minimally destructive to the environment, but instead it is actually environmentally restorative.”

“Making plastic with algae is pretty novel. There is no one else who does it the way we do. A large part of us deciding to move here was the close location to catfish farms. When we were first starting our business, developing technology, harvesting algae and understanding how to make the algae usable, we did a lot of testing on catfish farms. For this work, we needed to be involved and connected to the community and membership in the chamber opened that door. The other beneficial element of moving to Meridian has been the wealth of transportation options.  Being near the Port of Mobile is vital because we do a lot of overseas shipping. We even have offices and employees in China due to our extensive work with the footwear industry.”  

ALGIX utilizes the vast potential of algae to improve our planet by enhancing lives and addressing society’s most pressing challenges. They are revolutionizing systems essential to life by providing clean water, and sustainable plastic products to the world. 

Algix – Working With Nature Not Against It
5168 Water Tower Rd., Meridian, MS