LGS brothers win Start-up of the Year Award
Brothers Joe (LGS 2012) and Sam Penhaul Smith (LGS 2016) have been awarded the Start-up of the Year 2023, by the Institute of Engineering and Technology for their company Sustainable Sailing.
The pair founded their company two years ago with the award being given for their development of the world’s first true sail recycling technology. The brothers both attribute their success directly to the knowledge and skills they gained at school. Joe says: ‘Our time at the Grammar was instrumental in building the skills we needed to reach these levels of success. Mr John Weitzel was a key part of both of our school experiences.’
Joe adds: ‘The technology that we have developed can recycle 90% of all the different sail cloths on the market, in a closed loop. This innovative solution for a 2,000 tonne per year waste stream, mostly from the boating and leisure marine industry has been sorely needed since the invention of Dacron sail cloth in the 1960s.’
The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a multidisciplinary professional engineering institution, who have presented awards in a wide range of categories since its inception 17 years ago. They have a major focus on technologies which are building a more sustainable future. Jo says: ‘At the awards night, The President focused his awards speech on the potential of biological and chemical engineering solutions for real world challenges. This focus aligns perfectly with Sustainable Sailing’s innovation in recycling sails.’
Jo explains; ‘Sails are designed to be hard wearing and resistant to all the abuse of high-performance racing, but this has come at the cost of their being very difficult to manage at their end-of-life. While about 1% of sails are recut or repurposed into bags and jackets, the majority are stored or landfilled. Sails in landfill leach microplastics and heavy metals with even the smallest sail taking hundreds of years to degrade. However, by combining recent advances in chemical and biological engineering, Sustainable Sailing can recover high quality components of these sails, with potential to return the components into sails.
Sam Penhaul says; ‘We’re proud to have won the Start Up Award. To win the award in Glasgow, one of the historic hubs of maritime innovation, feels very appropriate. We’re looking forward to our next steps in the business.’
Ed Almond, IET Chief Executive and Secretary, added: ‘The Excellence and Innovation Awards shine a spotlight on the ground-breaking innovations and best practices in engineering, science and technology, and the fantastic trailblazers who are changing the course of our future.’
If you are interested in knowing more, or partnering with Sustainable Sailing, please contact them via email: info@sustainablesailing.co.uk
