The flexible packaging industry produces over 50 million tons of plastic film a year — enough to wrap around the planet more than 10,000 times — and virtually none of it is recyclable. It is one of the largest unresolved waste streams in consumer goods. Regulatory pressure in the U.S. and Europe, together with the public sustainability commitments of major CPG brands, has created urgent demand for a solution.

The barrier properties that keep food fresh have historically required those incompatible multi-layer structures. Prior single-material attempts either compromised on performance, were prohibitively expensive, or required entirely new manufacturing infrastructure — making commercial adoption impractical. Solving this without sacrificing shelf life, food safety, or basic economics has been the central challenge.

Ionic liquids are salts that are liquid at or near room temperature. Their chemistry lets them interact with clay particles at the molecular level, creating a tortuous structure that dramatically slows the passage of oxygen and moisture through the film. In plain terms, they are the ingredient that makes a single-layer film behave like a multi-layer one — without the recycling problem.

The technology has moved from the lab into customer trials with leading food and packaging companies. We are a participating member of the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) Packaging Innovation Program, which provides independent industry validation, and our research is backed by Carnegie Mellon University alongside a strategic partnership with RoCo® advanced materials.

The core additive chemistry is protected by patent-pending filings, and key process know-how is held as trade secret.

Packaging film manufacturers don’t need to buy new equipment, retool their lines, or retrain their workforce. The additive is incorporated into the blown-film extrusion process converters already run. Switching to recyclable packaging becomes a materials decision, not a capital-investment decision — which removes the single largest barrier to industrial adoption.

Yes. The scrap left over from cutting reels of blown film can be captured and reused in the same facility. This in-house loop is the most attractive form of recycling because it requires no additional handling or shipping.

We sell the additive into the packaging film supply chain. Our primary customers are film converters — the manufacturers who produce flexible packaging films and sell them to CPG brands and food companies. This is an asset-light, high-margin model: we supply a small-volume, high-value input that goes into a much larger manufacturing process. Think specialty chemicals or flavors & fragrances — margin-rich businesses that don’t scale linearly with manufacturing cost.

Because the technology is additive-based, scaling is primarily a chemistry and supply-chain challenge, not a manufacturing-infrastructure one. Commercial trial outcomes over the coming quarters will establish the performance benchmarks needed for broad rollout.

Most alternatives fall into two camps: barrier coatings or new “recyclable” multi-layer structures that still require new materials or process changes; and mono-material films that compromise on barrier performance. Our additive aims to deliver multi-layer-equivalent barrier in a true mono-material film, at cost parity, with no new equipment — combining recyclability, performance, and economics rather than trading one for another.

Today we offer cost-neutral performance. As regulations impose compliance costs on non-recyclable alternatives — through taxes, fees, and eventual bans — the economic advantage of our solution grows without any change to our product or pricing. The regulatory environment is a structural tailwind, not merely a sales argument.

The global flexible packaging film market is valued at approximately $300 billion. The subset directly affected by recyclability mandates represents a $10 billion opportunity. Singularity Polymers is positioned as essential infrastructure for that shift: the additive that makes compliance commercially and economically viable.

Our research is backed by Carnegie Mellon University, with a strategic partnership with RoCo® advanced materials and early support from the Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund. Participation in the IFPA Packaging Innovation Program provides independent industry validation, and trials with major global film manufacturers deliver real-world proof points beyond the lab.

The principal risks are scaling barrier performance consistently at commercial volumes; the pace of customer qualification and adoption; and the availability and economics of polyethylene film-recycling streams in target markets. The additive’s drop-in, cost-neutral profile mitigates the biggest adoption barrier, and regulatory tailwinds improve the relative economics over time.