# Turning Waste into Bioplastic Gold with Genecis CEO Luna Yu

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-for-good-podcast-641837/turning-waste-into-bioplastic-gold-with-genecis-ceo-luna-yu
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-for-good-podcast-641837/turning-waste-into-bioplastic-gold-with-genecis-ceo-luna-yu.md
Podcast: [Business for Good Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-for-good-podcast-641837)
Published: 2025-08-15T13:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://businessforgoodpodcast.libsyn.com/turning-waste-into-bioplastic-gold-with-genecis-ceo-luna-yu
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/businessforgoodpodcast/B4G_EP_172_Final.mp3?dest-id=761849
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/business-for-good-podcast-641837/episodes/turning-waste-into-bioplastic-gold-with-genecis-ceo-luna-yu
Duration seconds: 2049

## Resource

It's rare that we contemplate where all the plastic we throw out goes, but rest assured that nearly none of it is being recycled. Simply put, it's usually cheaper to make new plastic than to recycle old plastic, even the plastic you put in the recycling bin. Because it takes plastic centuries to break down, this means for each one of us you could build a mountain of plastic from all the packaging we use over the course of our lives. But what if plastic didn't have to take centuries to break down, and could actually biodegrade in a matter of days or weeks? That's exactly the vision Luna Yu is bringing to life as founder and CEO of Genecis Bioindustries , a biotech company using fermentation to transform food waste into high-performance, truly compostable bioplastics. In this episode, Luna joins us—at 1 a.m. her time from a manufacturing run in China—to share the story behind Genecis, from her early days as a teenage entrepreneur in Canada to raising $17 million for her startup in the climate tech world. Luna walks us through how Genecis engineers microbes to turn low-cost industrial waste streams like glycerol into PHA, a biodegradable plastic alternative that's already being used in consumer products like Mad Tea and Mad Coffee . We discuss why Genecis is taking a direct-to-consumer approach, how they're preparing to launch in Sprouts nationwide, and what it will take to make sustainable plastics cost-competitive with petroleum-based ones. We also dive into Luna's big bets on the future—including cell-free biology, the promise of enzyme-only production systems, and her vision for a world where the most convenient option is also the most sustainable. If you're curious about the intersection of synthetic biology, circular economy, and product design—or you just want to h…

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