Notpla collaboration equips UK & Ireland sports venues with millions of seaweed-based foodservice packs

18 Mar 2024 --- Notpla is partnering with sports and entertainment venues for seaweed-based, biodegradable foodservice packaging on-site. The UK-based start-up is teaming up with Levy UK & Ireland, the sports and entertainment venue arm of food services giant Compass Group UK & Ireland, to introduce 75 million items of Notpla’s food packaging over the next three years.

Over the coming months, over 50 other sites will join the Kia Oval in serving their visitors’ food orders in Notpla’s biodegradable packaging. 

Among the first to offer these packaging options are The Kia Oval — home of Surrey County Cricket Club, Aston Villa Football Club, Twickenham Stadium — the official home of England Rugby and Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. 

Prince William met with co-founder of Notpla, Pierre Paslier, and Levy UK & Ireland MD, Jon Davies at the Kia Oval earlier this month to see Notpla’s fully scaled sustainability solution in action. 

Scaling up production 
Notpla’s food packaging uses seaweed to replicate the qualities of plastics, replacing millions of items of single-use plastic packaging. 

With a reported 9% of all plastic produced having been recycled and 12% incinerated, the rest lies in landfills or has been dumped into the oceans. The partnership allows Notpla to scale up the speed at which it can reduce plastic pollution.

Having developed and brought its solution to the market in 2019, Notpla says its seaweed-coated food packaging solutions have risen from tens of thousands of units to tens of millions.

Pierre Paslier, Notpla’s co-founder and co-CEO, says: “Since the first introduction from Prince William and some early stadium trials, we’ve been so inspired by Levy’s dedication to reducing environmental impact. They recognize the positive effect that they can have in stopping the production of millions of items of plastic packaging and, most importantly, are taking action. That’s something to be optimistic about.”

 Notpla’s LCAs showed a 70% CO2 emissions reduction over  conventional packaging previously used at sporting events.Maintaining convenience 
Levy UK & Ireland, a venue specialist business that serves millions of meals annually, introduced carbon labeling on its menus to help customers make sustainable choices and banned air freight across all its fruit and vegetables. Levy furthermore serves seasonally appropriate menus and reduced its carbon emissions by 60% by only serving plant-based desserts across its portfolio.

Crucially for Levy sites, Notpla has validated the positive environmental impact of their seaweed-based packaging. LCAs showed a 70% potential CO2 emissions reduction over the conventional packaging previously used, offering the Levy-catered stadiums, racecourses, arenas and event spaces an immediate reduction in their site’s environmental impact.

With no notable changes to the packaging’s functionality or usage conditions, visitors and catering staff can maintain the convenience of single-use packaging. 

Jon Davies, managing director of Levy UK & Ireland, says: “We’re determined to have a positive voice and demonstrate that by working together we can improve the health of our planet.” 

“Strategic partnerships are key to this success, and working with Notpla allows us to take another step in removing plastic from consumables and eliminating waste that would otherwise end up in landfills or oceans. This exclusive partnership means we will find solutions and be able to look toward the future with hope.”

Edited by Natalie Schwertheim