Summary

PulpaTronics is a London-based deep tech startup developing fully recyclable, metal-free, chipless RFID tags made from paper. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags are widely used across retail, logistics, and transportation to track inventory, prevent theft, and enable auto-checkout — yet around 18 billion are produced globally each year as single-use items, becoming one of the fastest-growing waste streams in Europe. Traditional tags contain a metal antenna and a silicon microchip, making them incompatible with standard recycling. PulpaTronics solves this by using laser technology to induce a conductive carbon circuit directly onto paper, encoding data in the geometric pattern of the material rather than in a chip — much like a QR code stores information in its shape. The result is a tag that performs the same functions as conventional RFID but can be recycled alongside ordinary paper waste. The company estimates its tags cut CO2 emissions by 60% and reduce manufacturing costs by 30%, and has been recognised as a B Corp. (Source)

Story

PulpaTronics was co-founded by Chloe So and Barna Soma Biro, who met on the first day of a dual master’s programme in Innovation Design Engineering taught jointly by Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art. The idea emerged from a final-year group project in late 2022, driven by a shared frustration: as we move toward a more digitalised world, the hidden environmental cost of single-use electronics was going largely unnoticed. Chloe, who had previously worked at a venture capital accelerator in New York, had become increasingly aware that more products often means more harm to the planet. Soma, with a background in biology and a passion for turning scientific research into real-world solutions, brought the technical drive. Together they embraced the concept of “substraction” — adding value by removing complexity rather than adding it. The company was formally founded in 2023 and has since raised pre-seed funding, run pilot studies with major UK retailers, and grown its team with specialists in laser engineering, radio frequency, and materials science.

Pic credit: Material District (right) and James Dyson Award (top)