https://www.bearhug.au/
Bearhug: Cutting 50 Billion Plastic Wraps Down to Zero
In this Climate Salad interview, Mick Liubinskas speaks with Tom from Bear Hug, a climate-tech startup tackling the hidden environmental cost of plastic pallet wrap. Every year, around 50 billion pallet shipments globally are wrapped in 40+ metres of single-use plastic, which is immediately discarded after use.
Bear Hug replaces this with a reusable polyester mesh wrap, coated in PVC, that lasts up to 1,000 uses.The companyâs innovation isnât just the wrap itself â itâs the automation and logistics around it. Bear Hug is building machines that rapidly apply the reusable wraps (in 20 seconds vs. 60 for traditional plastic), along with a software platform to manage transfers and ownership between parties. The system mimics the CHEP pallet rental model, charging 18 cents per wrap per day, with full clean-and-return services included.
Bear Hug started in the craft beer sector, with over 80 brewers in Australia and the US. Itâs now expanding into broader FMCG, running trials with Coca-Cola and Amazon, and preparing for European growth as new EU regulations mandate reusable pallet wrapping by 2030. Co-founder Max is relocating to Germany to drive expansion.Tomâs journey began as a truck driver wrapping pallets daily. Seeing the waste first-hand sparked the idea. Now Bear Hug offers a product thatâs cheaper, faster, and greener â a rare win-win-win in sustainability.
As Mick notes, this is exactly the kind of âbetter productâ solution that climate tech needs.
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