Mike Biddle

Athlete, Business leader, Engineer, Entrepreneur, Environmentalist, Inventor, Parent, Scientist, Technologist, World traveler

Dr. Biddle is considered an early CleanTech pioneer, starting MBA Polymers over 18 years ago - literally from his garage. He has since grown his company to what is now the world’s leading multinational company recovering plastics from end-of-life durable goods, such as computers, electronics, business equipment, appliances and automobiles. The company has designed, built and now operates the four most advanced plastics recycling facilities in the world: in California, China, Austria and the UK. MBA has over 300 million pounds per year of processing capacity to turn shredder residue and other waste into plastics for use right back into the same types of products from which they came. MBA plans to build at least one world-scale plant per year going forward. Mike worked for GE, Cummins Engine Company and Dow Chemical, before striking out on his own in 1993. Mike received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louisville and a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. He was also a Sloan Fellow at Stanford University, graduating with an MS in Management Science. Mike and MBA have received numerous awards. Most recently, Mike won the prestigious 2012 Gothenburg Award for Sustainable Development (previous winners include Al Gore, Kofi Annan, Gro Harlem Brundtland, etc.). Mike also wont the 2010 Economist Innovation Award for Energy and the Environment, the first Thomas Alva Edison Award for Innovation in 2002 and the first Ascent Award for Entrepreneurship in 2007. Mike was named one of "America's Most Innovative Minds" by Inc magazine and an "Earth-keeper Hero" by myhero.com. MBA was named one of the top 100 CleanTech companies in the world in both 2009 and 2010 and one of the top 5 CleanTech companies in Europe in 2009, by two different organizations. MBA was also selected as World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer and as a Silicon Valley Tech Museum Tech Laureate.

Making a positive difference, returning the planet and resources I'm borrowing from future generations better than I received them and leaving them an abundance of opportunities and possibilities

Think of yourself not as a consumer, but as a "borrower" of resources in one form until they can be transformed into another form for another use. One person's waste is another person's resource. There is no such thing as waste.

Cleantech, climate change / environment / sustainable development, Entrepreneur, Environmental Management and Development, Green, Innovators & Leaders, Natural capitalism, Recycling, Sustainable Manufacturing

I combined my personal passion with my technical and business training and experience to help re-invent one of the world's largest industries: plastics. The company I founded nearly 20 years ago is now a multinational enterprise and is making the plastics industry more sustainable, cleaning up enormous and rapidly growing waste streams and providing the tools to save billions of pounds of CO2 and oil per year. And I try my best to "walk the talk", by riding my bike to work whenever I can, including business meetings, running an energy-efficient household and teaching my two kids the importance of walking lightly on the earth as we share this precious and amazingly beautiful resource with so many others. My 10-year old daughter has already taught us how to save more water and energy at home.

Playing pirates, Harry Potter and "tickle monster" with my kids. Into healthy eating and lifestyles, sports and fitness, camping and hiking, photography