After moving to Vancouver from mainland China at age six, nature became a significant part of Wang’s family life. They spent summers camping and winters skiing, all while living in a city rich in natural beauty. Her awareness of sustainability truly blossomed when she joined a volunteer club at Magee Secondary School and needed to recycle beverage containers. “That was where I met teachers who instilled in me the realisation that there are many problems and we have a role in doing something about it,” Wang says.

At about the age of 16, Wang visited the Vancouver South Waste Transfer Station, where she was taken aback by the sheer volume of plastic being sent to landfills—especially in a city she believed to be environmentally conscious. This eye-opening experience fuelled her passion for activism: “I could not believe people around the world are just going about their lives like normal—like this is a perfectly unsolvable or acceptable reality. I just thought it was wrong.”

Wang, in Grade 12, began to seek solutions during the science contest Sanofi Biogenius Canada Competition. Under the guidance of their mentors from the University of British Columbia, she and her friend Jeanny Yao, her Novoloop co-founder, discovered bacteria in the Fraser River, the longest river in the province, that is capable of breaking down a component of plastic called phthalates. This discovery won them an award and caught the attention of Ted, the non-profit organisation that hosts international conferences featuring influential speakers.

As first-year science students, Wang and Yao received an invitation from Ted to give a speech at its event in Long Beach, California, in 2013. “This event was meaningful to me because it is where Elon Musk, Bono and the co-founders of Google [Larry Page and Sergey Brin] presented their ventures. Being in the company of these titans of the world made us realise everybody starts out where we were: as high-school students,” Wang says.

Their presentation led to a US$50,000 investment, allowing Wang to launch her company from her dorm room in 2015. She also attracted additional funding by joining various pitch competitions, including the Wharton Business Plan Competition. By 2016, she had successfully raised about US$600,000, paving the way for a move to California—a market she believed would encourage innovation.

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On the outskirts of San Jose, Wang set up the Novoloop’s first laboratory and began researching a biological method to use bacteria for degrading plastic. However, within three months, she realised this approach was not scalable. “It was really slow to culture bacteria on plastics. We realised that there needed to be a hard pivot if we wanted to solve the problem,” she recalls.

Exploring a biological approach appeared to be an attractive option at the time, especially given the potential for attracting funding due to the growing interest in the field. Ultimately, she prioritised the development of impactful technology over funding. In 2017, her team discovered an oxidation technology after being inspired by some work in academic literature shelved over 20 years ago. This chemical process could break down polyethylene, the type of plastic they target. Eventually, the start-up achieved its first proof of concept after conducting trials in a reactor in Arizona.

Fast-forward two years, the technology remained in the laboratory stage, not yet fully developed for broader use. “This is where you enter the valley of death, meaning that it’s the amount of resources you need to continue going to develop this technology is far more than what you may be able to attract,” says Wang.

Enter Rolex, who saw the start-up’s potential. The watch brand honoured the then 25-year-old Wang as one of five laureates in the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, which are given to projects that focus on the environment, science and health, applied technology, cultural heritage and exploration. These projects are judged on their originality and the impact they have on the world, as well as what Rolex calls the candidates’ “spirit of enterprise”. It has also provided crucial funding for the company. As Wang puts it, Rolex sees the need to support promising, meaningful solutions that have yet to materialise.

The watchmaker has continued to back the entrepreneur and her company through the Perpetual Planet Initiative, which supports those who go above and beyond to safeguard and preserve the Earth for future generations. It has helped finance Novoloop’s demonstration plant, a manufacturing facility that is used to test whether the company’s chosen material construction and different specifications would work. 

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For Wang, the journey, of course, hasn’t been an easy one. “Being an innovator and explorer can be very lonely because you’re constantly choosing to be outside your comfort zone and trying to change other people. I’m trying to get people to buy materials made from waste that no one can use today; to convince companies that are manufacturing other goods to be my manufacturing partners and build brand new plants.”

She says winning people over mainly hinges on listening to and grasping different viewpoints. For Wang, this has been a continuous learning experience, primarily since there weren’t many existing models to guide her. For instance, she devised a plan to establish a demonstration plant with significantly lower capital through inventive partnerships in low-cost regions. This process took her all over the map to understand each location’s unique constraints, risks and opportunities.

Wang finds comfort in being part of a community of like-minded individuals dedicated to improving the planet, including fellow laureates recognised by Rolex. Though their fields may differ—some are cave explorers, while others are ocean divers—they share everyday struggles. “We’re all venturing into something mentally challenging every day. When we come together, somehow we all understand each other,” she says.

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In less than ten months’ time, Novoloop will make its final investment decision for its first commercial facility. “We’re very close; we’re at the very precipice now of being able to achieve measurable impact with this technology,” Wang says. “This would be a profitable endeavour—to start mass producing the materials in our process. At that point, I would say it’s beyond philanthropic.”

Reflecting on her entrepreneurial journey from a secondary school student to an industrial technologist, Wang admits that navigating the changes and challenges has been “kind of painful”. The obstacles have become more daunting and the stakes higher. As the leader of the venture, she still needs to bite the bullet and rise to the occasion. What keeps her going is simply taking action rather than leaning on sources that might only offer a fleeting sense of hope: “A lot of people, especially young people, say, ‘The future is so hopeless.’ [This is] the depression you must fight every day because if you don’t try something different and take risks, you will feel like it’s hopeless. It’s the trying that gives you hope.”

“It’s not good enough that plastics are not being recycled. It’s not good enough that the world is experiencing climate change that will drive mass migrations of billions of people within our lifetimes. Ultimately, it has to be the voice in your head that gives [you] purpose.”

Front & Female Changemakers celebrates the extraordinary journeys of inspiring women who have emerged as powerful changemakers in a range of fields, offering a glimpse into their lives and showcasing their courage, vision and relentless pursuit of change and progress. From social entrepreneurs and business leaders to educators, artists, activists and scientists, Front & Female changemakers exemplify the ability to challenge the status quo and demonstrate the power of women to effect change.

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