Scottish startup Seastex is reimagining aquaculture mussel byssus for textile applications.

Founded in June 2021, the bio-manufacturing company is developing novel textile recycling technologies to repurpose byssus, commonly known as mussel beard, into innovative, safe and circular materials for use in creative industries.

Byssus is known as a by-product of mussel farming. Research from the Scottish Government found every year Scotland produces over 20,000 tonnes of mussels, and up to a third of that ends up as waste, most of which consists of whole mussels and byssus. Seastex works with the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group, a cooperative of 37 mussel farmers, to collect and process this ‘waste’ material.

Sander Nevejans, CEO and founder of Seastex, sees