Cruz Foam uses chitin, a biopolymer found in shellfish, to make structural foam that is biodegradable and has the same mechanical properties as polystyrene and polyurethane foam. The product aims to both upcycle shellfish waste and address pollution caused by the petroleum-based foams.

As a graduate student and avid surfer in Santa Cruz, Cruz Foam CEO John Felts was concerned with the pollution caused by polystyrene foam used in surfboards. Majority of foams currently in use contain polystyrene or polyurethane, which are toxic and non-biodegradable materials made from petroleum-based sources. Petroleum-based foams take 500 years to decompose, contribute to one-third of all waste in US landfills, and often end up on beaches and in the sea.

Cruz Foam has developed a process to produce structural foam using chitin, a biopolymer found in shrimp, crab and lobster shells. The process uses only water, salt and a foaming agent. The chitin-based foam has similar mechanical properties as petroleum-based foam, and is non-toxic and biodegradable.

The patent-pending process was developed by Felts and co-founder Marco Rolandi of the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Cruz Foam has won awards at the University of California Grad Slam and has been accepted into the Santa Cruz Works accelerator. In October 2019, the startup raised $25,000 in seed funding from Ocean Solutions Accelerator.

The company also aims to help upcycle nearly 8 million tonnes of shellfish waste generated each year, of which 2 million tonnes is chitin. Chitin is the second most abundant biopolymer on the planet, after cellulose.

Cruz Foam is looking to partner with or license technology to existing surfboard manufacturers. It has plans to expand to other applications like packaging and cooling materials.