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V O L . X X V N O. X I I I J U N E 2 4 , 2 0 1 9 14 E N E R G Y / E N V I RO N M E N T F O C U S Smith, who holds an undergraduate degrees in international affairs and Latin American studies from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and an MBA from the University of Southern Maine, co-founded gift-card company Buoy Local in 2013 with Sean Sullivan of the Maine Brewers' Guild. ey sold their firm in 2016 to Bangor Savings Bank. Smith says that one of the most valuable things he learned from his previous business was the importance of having early stakeholders willing to pay for and endorse one's product. For Maine Coasters & Bio-Boards, he's working with a team of advisers helping with product specs, and evaluation of the material and production costs, and is grate- ful for informal help from Sappi's research and development department. While Smith doesn't yet have an exit plan in place for his latest venture when the time comes, he says he's open to all opportunities. "e primary goal is to keep this business operating in Maine as much as that's possible," he says. "Right now, however, I'm focused on making sure the numbers work for the product. Our coasters are going to be more expensive than what's currently in the market, and I want to ensure that customers are willing to pay a small premium." After a larger trial planned for this summer or fall, Smith hopes to have a product for commercialization by 2020. He's also looking to make coasters with a larger cali- per, or thickness, at a lower cost. Putting a lid on single-use plastics Ariadne Dimoulas, 27, is an ocean researcher, marine educator and inventor who sees a business opportunity in making disposable consumer goods out of paper rather than ocean-polluting plastic. She founded Paramount Planet Product in 2017 to develop cellulose tech- nologies to make ocean-compostable, fish- friendly coffee cup lids, bottle caps and other products. Her mother and business partner, pulp and paper engineer Claudia Lowd, is the company's lead research sci- entist and chief financial officer. Working with researchers at the University of Maine, they've pioneered a material called plaaper (pronounced "PLAY- per.") It's still in the prototype stage as they seek commercial partners, mainly among paper manufacturers in Maine. Dimoulas, the company's CEO and ocean research director, holds undergraduate degrees in international relations and affairs and marine affairs from the University of Maine. She also studied international marine policy in China. After seeing tourists in exotic places appreciating sea turtles and other creatures but also sipping drinks with plastic straws, Dimoulas set out to make a dent in the esti- mated 18 billion pounds of plastic waste that flows into the world's oceans every year. She describes plaaper as "kind of like plastic, but it's really paper," and believes it has huge potential for Maine's paper industry, adding: "Plastic is out, paper is in." Dimoulas admits that while plaaper's benefits may seem obvious to many people, winning over corporate investors poses a challenge. "It takes a small company like ours some time to gather the needed capital to move the innovation forward, but we're inspired to keep going," she says. As the company applies for national research funding and courts potential commercial partners, it's selling disposable coffee cup lids and partyware made in China from non-plastic material online. But the long-term plan is to make paper-based products in Maine. "ese lids could be produced in the state of Maine, increase demand for some woods, generate good jobs and attract investment to the region," says Douglas Bousfield, a UMaine professor working with Paramount Planet Product. Renee Cordes, Mainebiz senior writer, can be reached at rcordes @ mainebiz.biz » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E 866.736.2804 | mainebls.com Maine Loans for Maine Businesses • Loans from $50,000 to $20,000,000 • Decisions Made in Maine • Streamlined Process Gets Deals Done Quickly EQUIPMENT REAL ESTATE BUSINESS EXPANSION AND ACQUISITION Paramount Planet Product aims to replace plastic drink lids with a paper- based lid. PH OTO / C OU R TES Y PAR AM OU NT PLANET PRODU C T

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