After wrapping up our New and Sustainable Materials Expo, we sat down with one of the innovators - Phillip Eilery, founder of Sustinent (also a resident of Cicada) - who shared his vision, motivation, and future goals for Sustinent.
In Phil's words, Sustinent is an "ecosystem business with biotechnology at their core". What does that mean? Specifically, Sustinent revitalises ecosystems by transforming green waste into valuable bio commodities, like stock feed and building materials.
From "a simple dream of making dog biscuits out of insect protein" into a company processing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of green waste into alternative products, Phil has learnt a lot along the way.
"A definition of the word ‘Sustinent’ is “serving to sustain” and ... our vision is to be the global partner of choice to realise sustainable, healthy, and prosperous communities."
- Phillip Eilery, Founder of Sustinent
Tell us about yourself and your vision for Sustinent
I’m a scientist by trade but most of my career has been on the corporate side of R&D. In fact, my PhD was in infectious diseases because I was always fascinated by the idea that a virus might one day emerge and change the world. Never imagined I’d later be in the position of starting an agriculture tech business in the midst of a global pandemic.
A definition of the word ‘Sustinent’ is “serving to sustain” and that’s why we’re here. Our vision is to be the global partner of choice to realise sustainable, healthy, and prosperous communities. We are a team that invents solutions, but we are also creating the platform for collaboration with entire value chains and other innovators. We’re an ecosystem business with biotechnology at our core, building circular economies that are scalable, affordable, and networked.
What motivated you to focus on the green waste sector?
It was a case of following the problem. To make a long story short, a turning point was my first conversation with Sunshine Sugar a couple of years ago. The challenge was set: come up with an economically sustainable; and environmentally and socially responsible alternative to burning green waste. I learned that this challenge is not unique to the NSW sugar industry. It’s many crops and it’s global. It’s that potential for growth and to make a difference that’s really exciting.
What are three lessons you’ve learnt founding and building Sustinent, useful for other entrepreneurs in deep tech?
- Pivoting doesn’t mean compromising on your ideals. I started with the simple dream of making dog biscuits out of insect protein - an idea I’d held onto for 15 years. The path to what Sustinent is today has not been linear and I’m sure there’s more change to come. But it’s still an expression (and extension) of what attracted me to the idea of insect farming in the first place.
- People who think differently are infinitely more valuable. My co-founder, Peter Tomich, is wired, unlike most people. He’s the strategic powerhouse that has really taken us from a handful of experiments in takeaway food containers under my staircase to bona fide business with an opportunity to make a difference.
- Lastly, the tech is obviously important. It must be scalable, deployable and the science must be sound. But the business model is just as important and is possibly the key to enabling that tech to be adopted.
What is next for Sustinent, and how can anyone reading this help?
- For investors and policymakers: We want our capacity to process 1 million tonnes of green waste into a range of products online within 5 years. That means a bigger team in 2022 (Production/Chemical Engineering, Project Management, and People and Culture gurus needed). It also means that we are actively looking for partners with large volumes of problematic, pre-consumer green waste in Australia and around the globe. If you are an investor or policymaker, we have a brilliant team, solid plans, and great traction. An injection of capital and warm leads will enable us to execute our growth plans.
- For construction industry innovators: Using fungi to turn green waste into sustainable biomaterials is a natural extension of what we do. We know others are out there working in this space - let’s talk. And if you are in construction, let’s talk about your problems with current solutions.
- For creative innovators: Add fungi to green waste and you'll have some fun, living material to work with. Art and design are always at the forefront of innovation so let’s showcase these materials.
Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to collaborate with our team or utilise our biomaterials.
What are you currently reading, watching or listening to that you would recommend to our community?
- I finally watched ‘The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley’ - the Theranos story. I’m still processing it and it will leave a mark. Deep tech has a harsh way of curbing one’s enthusiasm and sometimes the SaaS model of traction can drive bad behaviour.
- On that latter topic, also a good read: How Do VCs Measure Traction in Deep Tech? by Dominik Lambersy.
- I challenge anyone to read ‘A Life on Our Planet’ without hearing Sir David Attenborough’s exasperated voice.
- Lastly, ‘Cat’s Cradle’ by Kurt Vonnegut was a great bit of escapism. ‘“Maturity,” Bokonon tells us “is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything”.’
