AION: circularity as a service

AION, an Oslo-based company is committed to industrially scale a circular plastic economy not only ensuring plastic is recycled effectively, but also collecting data about the material’s use and its processing, to verify its environmental benefits.

Learn more

Discover the values and drivers behind this company.

Rethinking waste management

“We used to work in renewables when we were told they wouldn’t fly,” says Runa Haug Khoury, CEO of AION, underlining her long-standing commitment to environmental sustainability.

The company provides flexible and traceable end-to-end services in the field of circularity on plastics with a documented sustainability effect for its customers. “We call it ‘circularity as a service’,” she adds.

“Waste management has a trust issue, so we are trying to enable transparency and digitalisation, improving traceability and collecting data all along the way, calculating environmental impact and making sure we walk the talk.”

Plastic is a good material. It’s lightweight, robust, reliable. But we need to enable a shift from linear to circular use. ”

- Runa Haug Khoury, CEO

From linear to circular

One such use-case is plastic trays: AION has developed a collaboration with McDonald’s across the Nordic markets, using recycled materials to produce sturdier trays that last longer. “Actually, although the extended life is now 24 months, we can re-use the same material on the same product ten times, meaning up to 20 years of tray life,” Runa explains. “Plastic is a good material. It’s lightweight, robust, reliable. We just need to enable a shift from linear to circular use. We need to close the tap on plastic pollution, this is crucial.”

Elsewhere, AION-produced plastic transportation pallets reduce waste by 90-95%, CO2 emissions by 84% and cost by 20-50%, all the while making operations smarter, easier, and safer.

Investing to boost growth

AION recently received an equity investment from EIF-backed venture capital firm Ocean14, to boost their growth efforts. “We’re still in the start-up phase of balancing opportunity and saying enough no’s, but we’re working with Ocean14 to identify targets and select niches to maximise impact.”

Timing seems to be on their side, with increased public scrutiny on sustainability and growing awareness. Plus EU regulatory measures, such as the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities, are also pushing things in the right direction: “We really hadn’t foreseen how impactful the taxonomy would be in moving things. It really lifted the sustainability agenda to the board rooms and top management.”