Canadian Plastics Recycler Wins Award

Polymer Research Technologies (PRT), a polyurethane recycling company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, beat out 178 competitors to win the top award of $130,000 in the 11th Annual British Columbia Innovation Counsel New Ventures Competition.

PRT’s technology takes pre- and post-consumer polyurethane scrap and recycles it into a non-toxic, high-quality and low-cost polyol product, called Recyclopo. The material is then re-used in place of virgin polyol as the raw material in all sectors of the $80 billion polyurethane industry.

"Each year the quality of the companies that enter the competition goes up, making the decision for our jury a very difficult one," says Bob de Wit, executive director of the New Ventures BC Society. “This year we chose PRT because, among the finalists, they are poised to make the biggest impact for positive change in society.”

Kambiz Taheri, PRT founder and chief technology officer, says, “This prestigious award is of great importance to us. It validates the years of work by our dedicated team and illustrates the tremendous market opportunity PRT is pursuing while providing an economical solution to the polyurethane waste problem as well as making a positive impact to our global environmental challenges.

“The demand is there,” Taheri continues. “We’ve had serious discussions with some of the largest companies in the industry. The benefits to the environment and to our customers are identifiable and quantifiable.”

Polymer Research Technologies was established to introduce, produce and distribute Recylcopol to industrial clients worldwide.