BLOOM and Surftech Forge a Path to Sustainable SUP Boards, Collaborates With Like-Minded Partners - MarketWatch
"We're excited about our collaboration with Surftech as they are an established market leader within the paddleboard industry. We hope they will be a beacon for others in the in the industry to consider their environmental impact in all that they do," said Rob Falken, BLOOM's managing director.
"Partnership Mounts a More Sustainable Attack on Algae"
By Sarah de Crescenzo, NBC7 San Diego
"Solana Beach-based materials development company BLOOM Holdings LLC has partnered with AECOM, one of the world's largest engineering firms, on a new way of managing harmful algae blooms in lakes, reservoirs and river systems."
Read more here
“Surftech and Bloom Forge a Path to Sustainable Paddleboards”
By Sarah de Crescenzo, NBC7 San Diego
"One paddle board with BLOOM foam will return 176 gallons of clean, filtered water to the habitat from which the algae was harvested and keeps the equivalent of about 123 12-inch birthday balloons full of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere..."
New Partnership Offers Hope for Florida’s Algal Bloom Crisis
“BLOOM’s algae harvesting technology safely collects algae from freshwater bodies at risk of algal bloom before a potentially toxic algal bloom grows, and without disrupting the balance to the natural ecology,” said Rob Falken, BLOOM’s managing director.
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Q&A: Using Algae to Create Sustainable Footwear
“Rob Falken, managing director of BLOOM and founder of Effekt, developed the algae-based foam as a solution to both our dependence on petrochemical ingredients, and to convert the algal bloom infesting the world’s waterways into a useful, renewable feedstock.”
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How Algae is Helping to Shape a More Sustainable Future in Consumer Products
By Rob Falken and Abby Fisher, for ACS.org - Green Chemistry Institute
“Our inventor and co-founder, Rob Falken, is currently working on a chemical and solvent-free method to safely extract the algae pigment (chlorophyll) from the foam’s feedstock to produce a wider range of custom colors, and a pure white alternative.”
“For Carlsbad businessman, mission No. 1 is to heal the environment”
By Lisa Deaderick, San Diego Union Tribune
“Rob Falken started a manufacturing business when he was 17 based on his love of surfing: a surfboard wax company. It was successful, but it wasn’t environmentally friendly. He realized he wanted to devote his life’s work to inventing products that would help heal the environment...”
“'Green’ shoes made from algae”
By Ben Coxworth, NewAtlas.com
"Back in 2015, we heard about how bioplastics firm Algix and clean tech company Effekt were collaborating to make eco-friendly foam based on algae instead of petroleum. The material is now being marketed as Bloom foam – by the newly-formed Bloom company – and you'll soon be able to buy shoes made out of the stuff."
“Algae-Based Foams Give Manufacturing A Green Path” By Sarah De Crescenzo, San Diego Business Journal
"Effekt CEO Rob Falken and Algix CEO Mike Van Drunen teamed up to launch BLOOM."
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“Full Bloom: A Carlsbad inventor aims to help the planet one brilliant idea at a time” By Angela Ashman, Modern Luxury San Diego
Though he's a successful businessman, Falken is truly an inventor at heart. "I have literally hundreds of technologies and ideas that I work on," he says.
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“Bio-Based Steps Up With The First Ever Moulded Shoe Made From Algae” By Emily O'Dowd, Bio-Based World News
BLOOM co-founder Rob Falken explained how the harvesting process works. "We work with any type of blue-green algae," he said. "Blue-green algae has polymeric properties, so we basically vacuum it off a lake and dry it using our continuous solar drying process."
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“Algae Shoes: How One Local Company Is Saving The Environment Through Footwear” By Danielle Radin, NBC 7 San Diego
“All of our local reservoirs, at one time or another, have had algae blooms that created serious problems for them," said Rob Falken, managing director of Bloom Holdings. "We make algae functional. For most shoes we average about twenty to twenty-five percent algae content.”
Watch the video here
