Daimler announced a trial and development partnership with Israeli cleantech company UBQ Materials to explore the use of UBQ’s climate-positive material in the production of automobile parts. Daimler is also promoting the use of UBQ across its logistics manufacturers to offset carbon footprint throughout the Daimler supply chain.

Daimler is the first automotive company to partner with UBQ, which has developed a patented process to convert unsorted, landfill-destined waste into a renewable, thermoplastic substitute that can be made into everyday goods.

Daimler chose to partner with UBQ through Plug and Play’s Startup Autobahn, an innovation platform that connects emerging technologies to pilot opportunities with multinational corporations. Daimler is currently testing and evaluating the incorporation of UBQ in the production of a range of Daimler automobile parts. Following further trials and examination, Daimler and UBQ will decide whether the material will be incorporated in vehicles to go to market. Initial results have proven positive.

To produce its thermoplastic material, UBQ breaks down mixed waste streams into their most basic natural components (lignin, cellulose, sugar, fiber) and creates a new sustainable, composite material, through a closed-loop, energy efficient process that does not use water, generate effluents, emit harmful fumes or residues. As a raw material, UBQ can be made into thousands of applications including shopping carts, pipes, trash cans, and automotive parts. The material has been developed over the last eight years by UBQ scientists.



By diverting waste and its harmful emissions from landfills, incorporating UBQ into a plastic product can eliminate or significantly reduce its carbon footprint. Based on a lifecycle analysis completed in 2019, UBQ was deemed the “most climate-positive thermoplastic material on the market”, according to Quantis, an international provider of environmental impact assessments.

UBQ operates a test plant in southern Israel which already supplies UBQ to the plastic industry with a capacity of 5,000 tons per year. UBQ is currently in the first stages of global expansion with a full-scale facility planned for the United States later this year.