While working at a nanotechnology company in the UK focused on water purification, Alex Totterman, Cove’s Founder and CEO, saw firsthand how difficult it was to remove microplastics from water. Recognizing that cleanup alone could not solve the problem, he set out to prevent plastic pollution at its source by developing materials and packaging that could reduce plastic use within the packaging sector, which accounts for nearly 40 percent of all plastic produced globally.

This work led to the founding of Cove in 2018 and the development of PB1, a fiber packaging platform designed for paper recyclability that can replace plastic bottles at scale.