Living Ink Technologies is a finalist in this year’s Sustainability Awards, nominated in the Start-Up New Materials category for its renewable black pigment made from agrifood waste. We spoke with the company’s director of Partnerships & Strategic Growth, Devon Murrie, to find out more about this entry.
You’re a finalist in the Sustainability Awards 2026. Congratulations! Could you summarize your entry in less than 50 words?
In partnership with AB InBev’s 100+ Accelerator, Living Ink Technologies transforms agrifood waste, like spent brewery yeast and industrially farmed algae, into renewable black pigments for packaging inks. This circular solution diverts biomass from landfills while replacing petroleum-based carbon black, reducing supply chain emissions and creating a closed-loop packaging system.
Why do you think the judges were impressed with your entry? Tell us about what is innovative about your project and its impact on packaging sustainability.
We believe the judges were impressed because our project solves multiple systemic problems with a single material solution. On the front end, we turn a costly waste management liability for agrifood partners into a high-value feedstock, preventing landfill emissions. On the output side, we replace traditional carbon black (a petroleum product) with a bio-based, safer chemistry that helps brands hit strict carbon targets and upcoming regulatory compliance.
The ultimate innovation here is the potential for a completely closed-loop, circular supply chain. For a partner like AB InBev, we can take the spent yeast from their fermentation process and turn it into the very ink printed on their beverage packaging. It is a tangible, visible story of circularity that proves sustainability doesn’t have to compromise performance.
Finally, can you tell us about the ongoing development of your project and how your innovation has been received by the industry?
While our waste-to-value pigment technology is highly innovative, it is already proven to be commercially viable. Living Ink is already in the market with our sustainable pigments and inks featured on packaging for major global brands like Nike, Patagonia, and New Balance.
Moving forward, our immediate focus is scaling these commercial applications with the help of manufacturing channel partners to drive down production costs and achieve greater economies of scale. Concurrently, we are expanding our R&D to test and integrate new bio-based waste feedstocks. By diversifying our source materials, we will make our pigments and inks more accessible, scalable, and adaptable to different regional supply chains worldwide.
The winners of this year’s Sustainability Awards are due to be announced on the 11th November at the Sustainable Packaging Summit, taking place from the 10th-12th November in Utrecht, Netherlands. The Summit mobilizes leaders of the FMCG value chain, policymakers, NGOs, recyclers and investors to collaborate, remove barriers and identify opportunities on the road to sustainable transformation.
To learn more or register, visit: https://www.packagingsummit.earth
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