I went to Israel and Jordan on a Holy Land Tour. I was with a group, and we spent two weeks visiting sites that all of us read about. Places like the Sea of Galilee, Jericho, Bethlehem, The Holy Sepulcher, and so on. We continued on to Jordan, visiting Mt. Nebo, the very high mountain that it was said that Moses climbed when he was 120. (Maybe locusts and honey really do work!) 

We finished in Petra, an archaeological wonder, built somewhere between 300 and 400 BC.  The trip was extraordinary and clearly relevant to our own religious relationships.  When Tiberius is mentioned in the Bible, I will remember my visit. It was truly an enlightening evangelical experience for me.

I tried to visit UBQ Materials while I was in Israel. UBQ is short for Ubiquitous, and the brainchild of Yehuda Pearl, a rabbi living in New York. Pearl is known for starting Sabra and building it into a hummus giant, selling to Pepsi for about $50 million. He started UBQ in 2013 and now, in 2020, UBQ has progressed from a pilot facility in a kibbutz in Israel to a 100,000-ton facility under construction here in the US.

What’s the connection? What’s the analogy? Well, like a trip to the Holy Land, UBQ’s technology is life changing. UBQ takes MSW (municipal solid waste) and converts it into a polymer. The UBQ polymer is blended with virgin, fossil-derived resins like polyethylene, polypropylene and others, and made into a variety of commercial products that meet physical and mechanical property requirements of 100% virgin resin.

Talk about life changing! Someone once said there is gold in your garbage. Truly, the UBQ polymer is gold. I had heard about UBQ and wanted desperately to visit them while I was in Israel. The timing didn’t work, so what I’m about to describe is second-hand information, gathered in conversations and research. But if what I’ve read and heard is anywhere near accurate, it is revolutionary. Think about the implications as their process and manufacturing accelerates. Certainly, the UBQ processed product is every bit as compelling as my experience on my Holy Land trip. Let me describe what I have learned about UBQ.

Residential mixed solid waste is the feedstock. I’m not talking about wood and construction rubble. I’m talking about flexible packaging bags, pressure sensitive labels, chicken bones, banana peels, paper, etc. I’m talking about what you and I put in our garbage at home that is taken to the landfill or incinerator. Obviously, everything is co-mingled, organic and inorganic. 

These materials are sorted, cleaned and heated into a compound that is eventually extruded into a pellet. “The magic that we’re doing is taking this kind of material and converting it into a product that can be used as a substitute for virgin polymer without any deleterious effect on performance,” says Pearl.

“Now, not only can we use recycled fiber in paper, but we may be able to use a recycled polymer in our film. This is heady stuff!”

Think of the implications:

• We produce 600 billion pounds of virgin resin annually.
• We generate 200-300 million tons of solid waste annually, much of which is plastic.

What if we could replace virgin resin with UBQ polymer by just 10%? We reduce virgin manufacturing by reducing solid waste. Think about it.

An analysis it commissioned by the Swiss environmental consulting firm Quantis found that keeping decomposing organic waste out of landfills and using it to create second-generation plastics could significantly cut methane, the gas that in the short term contributes more to global warning than carbon dioxide. Substituting a ton of UBQ’s pellets for the same amount of polypropylene saves the equivalent of about 15 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, Quantis concluded; adding as little as 10% of its material can make the result carbon neutral, depending on the type of plastic being created.

Let’s take it one step further. What if our OEM’s could use a percentage of UBQ resin in their film – 10% or 20%? Wouldn’t this make our own products friendlier? We’re already seeing adhesives made from bio-polymers. Now, not only can we use recycled fiber in paper, but we may be able to use a recycled polymer in our film. This is heady stuff!

UBQ material is thermoplastic. It currently is compatible as a raw material in many industrial applications and helps create products with a reduced carbon footprint. 
There are two main groups of materials:

UBQ GHG
UBQ GHG Neutralizer additives enable processors to directly compensate CO2 equivalent emissions (GHG) generated by plastic polymers. Polymers typically emit 1.9 to 3.5 kg of Co2e per kilogram during their production process. UBQ GHG Neutralizers, conversely, offset on average 15 times their weight of Co2e.

Adding as little as 10% UBQ GHG to a part can immediately transform it into a carbon neutral product.

UBQ GHG is added to product formulations as a Master Batch Additive. It is available in different grades compatible with olefin, styrenic and chlorine.

UBQ Industrial Grade
As a bio-based composite thermoplastic material, UBQ Industrial Grade can replace plastic polymers in hundreds of applications. UBQ Industrial Grade is the preeminent environmental material, which can substitute oil and plant-based polymers, as well as wood. UBQ Industrial Grade is typically used in concentrations of 30% to 100% of the finished product weight. UBQ Industrial Grade is competitive, sustainable and recyclable.

Jack “Tato” Bigis, CEO of UBQ, says, “Nothing goes to waste. Metals and glass go to recyclers.  There’s not water in the process so it’s really efficient in terms of the environment.” Waste goes into a multi-chambered reactor that sits behind closed doors.  That’s their black box – and obviously proprietary. I suspect heat, pressure and the elimination of oxygen is the “black box,” a bit like torrefaction, but I’m guessing.

If this process and product comes anywhere close to their claims, this could potentially change the waste and recycling markets.

Bravo to UBQ.  This is the kind of technology we need. It is exactly what we need to duplicate in our own industry. My trip to Jerusalem and Bethlehem was extraordinary. So, also, is the new UBQ polymer. Certainly, this is a way to reduce harmful emissions, as well as slow climate change.


Calvin Frost is chairman of Channeled Resources Group, headquartered in Chicago, the parent company of Maratech International and GMC Coating. His email address is [email protected].