Positive Plastics

What Positive Plastics does

Positive Plastics Oy is a privately held, Finland-domiciled company founded in October 2021 at the Fakuma trade fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany, by three materials and product design experts: Efrat Friedland (materialscout, Germany), Erik Moth-Müller (Futation, Denmark), and Markus Paloheimo (Sytyte Oy, Finland). The company curates and sells physical sample kits of sustainable plastic materials — including post-consumer recyclates (PCR), post-industrial recyclates (PIR), mass-balanced grades, bio-based grades, and bio-composites suitable for injection moulding — to product designers, engineers, and brand owners evaluating materials for consumer electronics, home appliances, sports goods, and automotive interiors. The catalogue spans 40+ named materials from manufacturers such as Albis, Covestro, Borealis, Stora Enso, and UBQ, each accompanied by standardized samples that communicate technical properties such as stiffness, density, shrinkage, and surface quality.

The core product offering is the Positive Plastics Sample Kit, with a second line extension — the Positive Surfaces Kit — co-developed with France-based Roctool and launched at Fakuma 2023. Revenue is generated through one-time sales of sample kits and individual material samples via a Shopify e-commerce storefront, with publicly listed pricing of 35€ per sample, 150€ for a 5-sample bundle, and 250€ for a 10-sample bundle. Distribution is multi-channel: direct e-commerce, trade fair presence (Fakuma), and inclusion in the global materiO' materials library under catalog number R2570. The company also operates a content marketing blog covering design considerations (UV resistance, chemical resistance, low temperature performance) and maintains active LinkedIn and Instagram channels.

The business is bootstrapped: no external funding rounds, parent company, or institutional investors are disclosed. The legal entity is operated by the three co-founders through their respective consulting companies (Sytyte Oy, Futation, and materialscout), with operational presence in Karjaa (Finland), Munich, Copenhagen, and Billnäs. Headcount is in the 11-50 range, and there is no public revenue disclosure. The company's strategic posture is that of a curated, niche marketplace — high domain credibility, low capital intensity, and a clear ESG-aligned value proposition — but with limited scale indicators to date.

Name

Positive Plastics

Legal name

Positive Plastics Oy

Website

https://positiveplastics.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Positive Plastics is a Finland-based curated marketplace that sells physical sample kits of sustainable plastic materials (PCR, PIR, bio-based, bio-composites, mass-balanced) to product designers, engineers, and brand owners across Europe via e-commerce, trade fairs, and materials libraries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainable Plastics Distribution

NAICS

Plastics Materials and Basic Forms and Shapes Merchant Wholesalers (424610)

SIC

Plastic Materials, Synth Resins & Nonvulcan Elastomers (2821), Plastics Products, Nec (3089)

akta.pro primary industry

Recycled Plastic Compounds (PCR/PIR) (IMANABAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Reprocessed Resin & Recycled Polymer Compounding (PCR/PIR Compounds) (IMANAMAG), Recycled & Reprocessed Polymer Resin Manufacturing (rPET, rPP, rPE; PCR/PIR resins) (IMANAAAH)

Keywords

• Sustainable plastics catalog
• Material sample kits
• Recycled polymer materials
• Bio-based plastics
• Injection molding polymers

Headquarters

HQ city

Munich

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Sample Kit Sales: Sale of physical sample kits containing curated sustainable plastic material samples for designers and engineers to evaluate materials for product design
2. Individual Material Samples: Individual material sample sales at 35€ per sample, with bulk discounts (5 samples for 150€, 10 samples for 250€)

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Positive Plastics curates and sells physical sample kits of sustainable plastic materials — post-consumer recyclates (PCR), post-industrial recyclates (PIR), mass-balanced, bio-based, and bio-composite grades — designed for hands-on evaluation by product designers, engineers, and brand owners selecting low-CO2-footprint polymers for injection moulding. Individual material specimens are also sold à la carte through the company's e-commerce shop to support targeted material testing.

Product overview

Positive Plastics is a curated platform offering sample kits of sustainable plastic materials for product designers, engineers, and brand owners. The core offerings include the Positive Plastics Sample Kit and Positive Surfaces Kit, which contain specimens of innovative sustainable polymers including post-consumer recyclates (PCR), post-industrial recyclates (PIR), mass-balanced grades, bio-based grades, and bio-composites. All materials are suitable for injection moulding to produce durable products. The portfolio encompasses over 40 individual material products from various manufacturers, each featuring specific technical properties for applications in consumer electronics, home appliances, sports goods, automotive interiors, and accessories. Materials include recycled polymers (ABS, PP, PA, PC), bio-based polymers (castor oil-derived polyamides, cellulose-based plastics), and bio-composites (wood fibre and grass fibre reinforced plastics).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Positive Plastics Kit: Sample collection kits of various innovative, commercially available sustainable polymers including PCR, PIR, mass balanced, bio-based, and bio-composite materials.

Products and services

• Positive Plastics Sample Kit Curated sample collection of innovative, commercially available sustainable polymers including post-consumer recyclates (PCR), post-industrial recyclates (PIR), mass balanced grades, bio-based grades, and bio-composites for product designers and engineers evaluating materials for injection moulding applications.
• Positive Surfaces Kit Sample kit developed in collaboration with Roctool (France) featuring sustainable plastic materials with various surface finishes, targeted at designers evaluating aesthetic and tactile properties of sustainable polymers.
• Individual Sustainable Plastic Material Samples Individual specimens from the Positive Plastics curated material portfolio available à la carte at 35€ per sample, with volume discounts on bundles of 5 (150€) and 10 (250€) samples, allowing designers and engineers to test specific materials without purchasing a full kit.

Quantifiable outcome

• First sample kit included 16 sustainable plastic materials from various manufacturers

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Sytyte OycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFinnish product design consulting company founded by Markus Paloheimo, one of the three co-founders of Positive Plastics. Sytyte Oy provides expertise in plastic product development and design.
• FutationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDanish material sample subscription service founded by Erik Moth-Müller, one of the three co-founders. Futation operates the MaterialSampleShop webshop.
• materialscoutcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGerman materials consultancy founded by Efrat Friedland, one of the three co-founders. Materialscout helps market-leading companies implement materials and technologies.
• materiO'minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLeading materials library with global presence that added the Positive Plastics Kit to its collection, enabling more designers to access the materials.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• MaterialSampleShop: Online materials sample webshop founded by Positive Plastics co-founder Erik Moth-Müller. Operates an adjacent sample-distribution model and is closely tied to Positive Plastics through shared leadership.
• Matmatch: Online materials search and comparison platform used by designers and engineers to evaluate plastics, metals, and ceramics. Competes for the same designer/materials-selector audience as Positive Plastics, though delivered as a digital database.
• MaterialConneXion: One of the largest global physical materials libraries, providing curated material samples to designers, architects, and brand owners. Closely comparable to Positive Plastics' curation-plus-sample business model.
• materialscout: Munich-based materials consultancy helping brands implement innovative and sustainable materials. Founded by Positive Plastics co-founder Efrat Friedland, it shares both leadership and target customer base.
• materiO': Global materials library and consultancy selling curated material samples to designers and brand owners. materiO' is also an active distribution partner of Positive Plastics (Positive Plastics Kit added under catalog R2570), making it both a peer and a channel.

Regional players

• raumPROBE: German materials library and consultancy that showcases innovative materials (including sustainable options) to architects, designers, and brand owners. Regional peer focused on the DACH market with comparable curation-plus-sample model.
• Modulor: German creative-materials retailer and webshop selling small-quantity materials (including plastics) to designers, prototypers, and makers. Comparable end-customer segment (independent designers and small studios) but with a much broader materials range.

Broad incumbents

• UL Prospector: Large-scale materials and chemicals database used by product designers and engineers. Overlaps with Positive Plastics on plastics material discovery but covers a far broader materials portfolio and serves enterprise R&D buyers.
• CAMPUSplastics: Plastics-specific materials database backed by major resin producers (BASF, Covestro, Sabic, etc.). Serves the same designer/engineer audience evaluating plastics for injection moulding and is supplied directly by manufacturers competing with Positive Plastics' curated offering.
• Ansys Granta MI: Enterprise materials information management platform integrated into engineering design tools. Operates much further upstream than Positive Plastics but addresses the same underlying materials-selection problem for product designers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/positive-plastics
• Instagraminstagram.com/the.positive.plastics

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Positive Plastics