Sharon Barak of Solutum
episode
Israeli Technology Founders Speak: Conversations with Successful Israeli Hitech and Biotech Entrepreneurs
19 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 13 days ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What plastic pollution problem does Solutum aim to solve?
This is Israeli Technology Founders Speak, a podcast of conversations with successful Israeli high tech and biotech entrepreneurs. With your host, Avraham Hermon.
Sharon Barak is the president and founder of Solotum, an Israeli clean tech startup that is solving the plastic pollution problem by making a biodegradable alternative to plastic. Avraham sat down with Sharon to discuss how she came up with the idea, got funded, the advantages of running a startup in Israel, the challenges of being a woman in business, future goals, tips for a startup foundation. Founders and much more. This podcast is a creation of JMB Davis Ben David, an intellectual property law firm serving clients around the world. You have great innovations. We keep them safe. It's not enough to just have a great startup idea or innovation. If you don't legally protect your innovations, products, and brand, anyone can claim them as their own.
We keep your great innovations secure. Learn more by going to jmbdavis.com. That's jmbd.com.
I'm sitting with Sharon Barak and we're talking about Salutum. Salutum is a company located here in Tel Aviv, Israel. Let's talk about what problem Salutum solves.
It's an easy answer. We want to eliminate plastic waste. So to solve the plastic pollution problem that we have in our world.
Uhhuh. So plastic waste is a problem like in the sea or in landfills. What are you focused on?
Basically we have plastic pollution everywhere. Uh when I was first exposed to the magnitude of the problem, not just the problem, but the magnitude of the problem was when I saw what happened in the oceans. 'Cause today in the oceans we have plastic islands. Like when we throw the plastic to the environment and it ends up in the ocean, with the curves of the ocean they found themselves concentrated. At It's several spots, five spots. The size of each spot uh is about twice the size of Texas. So Houston we have a huge problem here. Wow. And so I came to realize and I came to be aware of those plastic islands and the fact that they are not going anywhere. So this is how I started my journey. And then obviously I learned how much plastic pollution we have in our planet in general, but it started from the oceans.
So can you briefly talk about how you solve the problem?
Yes, because we looked at the beginning of the plastic in the oceans, uh we had a dream to have a plastic that disappear in water. So this is what we did. A little bit maybe about my background. I'm a chemical engineer and I was the R and D manager at a plastic additive company. So I learned a lot about plastic, many different types of plastic, polymers, products, industries, and learned about the problem and learned about what properties you need to. Have in your material.
How did Sharon’s “aha moment” inspire a biodegradable plastic?
So what we wanted to have is a material now that can replace plastic but still have the same properties as plastic, but at the end will disappear, biodegrading nature. So our material is a material that dissolves in water and biodegrades in water. It's not enough just to dissolve obviously in water. It's biodegrade, so it leaves no trace. So this is how we started with material. that biodegrades in water. And as I said, as we move forward, we learn that we also need to take care of other pollutions also in the landfill, soil, etc. So our material actually biodegrades in different kinds of environment as well.
So is your goal to make a plastic that manufacturers will use all over the world? Because as far as I understand, I don't know very much about the plastic pollution problem, but it's a worldwide problem and the industry uses really a lot of plastic today.
A lot is understatement. Yes, a lot. That's a good point, by the way. One of our ways how to solve the problem is not just looking at the technology aspect of how it biodegrades at the end, but it actually how it fits to the industry. Because we didn't want to make now a product that you need to invest a lot of capex in the machine. We wanted a material that actually plug in to the plastic supply chain from the very first start of the raw material production, then the product production all the way to the end customers.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What plastic pollution problem does Solutum aim to solve?
0:00–3:02
2
How did Sharon’s “aha moment” inspire a biodegradable plastic?
3:02–6:05
3
What is the science behind Solutum’s water‑soluble, biodegradable material?
6:05–8:32
4
How does Solutum’s material fit into existing plastic supply chains and stay cost‑competitive?
8:32–11:36
5
Why are patents and IP crucial for Solutum’s funding and industry partnerships?
11:36–14:29
6
What unique challenges does a female founder face in the plastics industry?
14:29–16:31
7
What practical advice does Sharon give to first‑time startup founders?
16:31–18:48
8
Where does Sharon see Solutum in the next five years and how will it impact the environment?
18:48–19:06