Cruz Foam

What Happened

Cruz Foam converts chitin from seafood-processing waste (shrimp shells) into a home-compostable replacement for expanded polystyrene/polyethylene foam — tackling cold-chain packaging for seafood, meal kits and specialty foods, an application area with few good alternatives.

Why It Matters

Cold-chain foam packaging for seafood and meal kits has genuinely few good alternatives — most compostable packaging solutions target dry goods, so a chitin-based foam that works in a wet, cold application is filling a real gap.

Shrimp-processing waste in, styrofoam replacement out.

FET's Takeaway

Sourcing chitin from shrimp-processing waste turns a seafood-industry disposal cost into someone else's packaging input — that supply-side economics is often what determines whether a bio-material startup can actually scale on cost.