AION: Designing circular solutions that work

By Celina Tran | Photos: AION

With ever-booming global industry, the issues of rapidly growing plastic waste means that businesses are facing increasing pressure to reduce waste and improve resource efficiency. Specialising in material formulation, industrial design and value chain optimisation, AION works with organisations to reduce virgin plastics by redesigning products and transforming waste into valuable new resources.

Originally established as a corporate venture within Aker BioMarine, AION was born from a challenge to find a better use for discarded fishing nets. While investigating how to give the material a second life, the team discovered that many industries were facing similar issues around plastic use, waste management and resource efficiency. This led to the creation of AION, which has since expanded with major businesses in the fishing, maritime and logistics industries.

SKARSVAAG REV OCEAN.

Firm believers in circularity as an economic concept, rather than an environmental one, it works throughout the entire process, from analysing material flows and identifying waste streams to designing products and implementing manufacturing processes. The company believes that successful circularity depends on solutions that are technically robust, commercially viable and operationally practical.

“We’re design-first, but we’re not a design agency,” explains Nils Henrik Parborg, Head of Materials and Design. “We start with data. We build the evidence needed to make the right design decisions, then help customers put those decisions into operation.”

Nils at Worldstar 2025.

This approach has delivered successful projects for companies including Circmar, where seafood industry waste was transformed into durable logistics pallets, and McDonald’s, where AION developed the process for turning used plastic crates into new logistics packaging products.

“Sometimes that’s redesigning a product to use less material; or it’s integrating design innovations that allow products to nest or collapse for improved logistics economics. In the most ideal scenario, that’s turning a waste stream into an input for something new. In every case, the solution has to work operationally and stack up commercially, or it doesn’t get built.”

SKARSVAAG REV OCEAN.

Looking ahead, AION is focused on scaling its industrial solutions. In a recently completed project for REV Ocean, one of the world’s largest and most advanced privately owned research and exploration vessels, Parborg’s design team utilised used fishing nets to formulate plastic sheets for high-stress maritime applications. The formulated sheets demonstrated comparable performance to 100 per cent virgin alternatives and are ready to be scaled across the maritime industry.

“The goal isn’t circular design as a sustainability ambition,” says Parborg. “It’s circular design as a better way to build products and value chains.”

AION: Designing circular solutions that work