Notpla lands £1M Earthshot Prize to boost seaweed packaging R&D
07 Dec 2022 --- For the second time, the Earthshot Prize announced five £1 million (US$1.2 million) prize winners at a globally broadcast ceremony in Boston, US. British seaweed packaging startup Notpla is among this year’s winners.
After being selected as one of five finalists for the “Building a waste-free world” Earthshot award, Notpla is now among the winners. Launched by Prince William in 2020, the Earthshot Prize is said to be the world’s most prestigious environmental prize. It aims to discover and scale innovative solutions to help repair and regenerate the planet.
“Thanks to the £1 million (US$1.2 million), we are going to invest in R&D, continue to expand our team of chemists and engineers, and invest in new machinery. But most importantly, the Earthshot Prize team is offering us tailored support and will introduce us to the Earthshot Prize’s vast network of businesses, philanthropists and investors, that should boost scaling our commercialization,” Pierre Paslier, Notpla’s co-founder and co-CEO tells PackagingInsights.
This year, Notpla has made over one million takeaway food boxes for JustEatTakeaway.The Earthshot Prize
All winners of the prize are entrepreneurs and innovators who have developed environmentally sustainable solutions to protect and restore nature, revive the oceans, clean the air, build a waste-free world, and fix the climate.
“The Earthshot Prize is a life-changer because it massively strengthens our credibility in the packaging industry. All our stakeholders – from investors, FMCG companies, and food services businesses to end-users – can see that what we do is valuable to help resolve our plastic crisis and that now is the time to join the fight against single-use plastics,” says Paslier.
Paslier says that since Notpla was announced as a Earthshot prize winner, major groups have reached out, and many restaurants across the US have been buying the company’s plastic-free takeaway boxes from its website.
Combatting plasticNotpla founders and CEOs Pierre-Yves Paslier and Rodrigo Garcia Gonzales after winning the Earthshot Prize.
This year, Notpla has made over 1 million takeaway food boxes for JustEatTakeaway, and the company says it can potentially replace over 100 million plastic-coated containers in Europe in the future. The company continues to research and develop new formats and solutions, with flexible films and rigid materials in the pipeline.
UK-based startup Notpla believes that the future of packaging is not plastic but seaweed. Notpla is a natural and biodegradable plastic alternative made from seaweed and plants. It can be used to create a range of packaging products, such as a bubble to hold liquids, a coating for food containers, and paper for the cosmetic and fashion industry.
“When Rodrigo and I started Notpla eight years ago in our student kitchen, we would have never imagined we would be here today. No one wants to live in a world full of plastic waste, but it’s not too late to act. There’s never been a greater time to use natural solutions to solve the plastic challenge.”
By Natalie Schwertheim
