Notpla scores US$13M for seaweed-based edible packaging commercialization
17 Dec 2021 --- Seaweed-based packaging manufacturer Notpla has landed £10 million (US$13.3 million) in series A round funding. The UK-based start-up will use the investments to commercialize its flagship product “Ooho” – an edible, biodegradable packaging solution made of algae.
A portfolio of films, coatings, sachets, pipettes and paper products is also set to hit the market. The company founders say the funding will be a rapid accelerator for international ambitions to rid the world of single-use packaging and plastic pollution.
Speaking to PackagingInsights, co-founder and co-CEO Pierre Paslier says seaweed has the potential to become the most “affordable and [environmentally] sustainable materials on the market.”
Paslier founded the Notpla project in 2014 with fellow Imperial College London and Royal College of Art alumnus Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez.
This year, trials of 30,000 seaweed-based boxes led to the commercial launch of the Notpla box with Just Eat and Takeaway.com to hundreds of UK restaurants. This packaging will progressively expand to Just Eat’s 26 countries and onboard new customers in the foodservice industry.
The duo say their Ooho product has already replaced 500,000 single-use plastic items at events like the London Marathon. The recent funding was led by Horizons Ventures, with participation from existing investors Astanor Ventures, Lupa Systems and Torch Capital.
Notpla’s Ooho sachet used in fast food packaging.Going industrial
Paslier explains potential applications for Notpla’s materials include packaging for hygiene, cleaning products such as detergents or pre-portioned foods such as pasta, coffee and drink flavorings.
“With no other readily biodegradable, biobased and flexible solutions on the market, these applications are in high demand from brands that are struggling to remove plastic from their product ranges effectively. Notpla has completed successful lab trials and is currently working on scaling up the process with several commercial partners,” he says.
The new funds will also support the development of Notpla’s paper made from the by-products remaining from the industrial processing of seaweed. The seaweed paper requires 30% less wood pulp than conventional paper, lowering pressure on forests while reducing waste from the seaweed supply chain, explains Paslier.
The company is also collaborating with fashion and luxury brands to develop solutions for secondary packaging such as boxes, envelopes or sleeves.
Algae over oil
A central challenge in bringing alternative materials to the packaging market en masse is price competition, for which virgin plastics have a strong dominance. However, Paslier says the market price for plastic is “artificial” and points to WWF estimates that the real social cost is at least ten times its official pricing.
“We are just buying it on credit, leaving the bill for future generations. If we want to start making the right choices, we need to compare materials that truly take into account their entire lifecycle consequences,” he asserts.
“Fortunately, seaweed can become one of the most affordable materials on the market. Some species can grow up to 1 meter per day. Notpla is aiming for mass adoption, so for us, it’s key that we can be one of the most competitive sustainable solutions.”
A biodegradable takeaway food box from Notpla.While the company concedes that seaweed might never reach parity with the current market price of plastic, Paslier says, “it’s not a limiting factor for our growth as more and more companies are opting for a small premium on packaging to supercharge their growth.”
“As more alternatives scale up, legislation will finish the job of creating a level playing field.”
Needed policy action
Paslier says companies and start-ups need two urgent policy shifts to boost novel packaging technology like Notpla’s.
“First, we need to help identify the problem. The EU is already doing some pioneering work in defining what plastic is and isn’t. That definition is the starting point for many companies who are reviewing their impact, and we are seeing partners outside the EU who are aligning with this,” he asserts.
“This also avoids further greenwashing around bioplastics, polymer blends and confusing tactics of the polymer industry.”
Second, Paslier calls for a ban on single-use plastics, “gradually and by application, or at least tax it as this is the best way to help the emergence of innovators while giving a chance to existing players to evolve.”
Measures like the EU Single Use Plastics Directive and the forthcoming ban under the UK Environment Act see single-use plastic items like cutlery and plates gradually outlawed. The UK is also set to launch a Plastic Packaging Tax in 2022.
However, Paslier says the timeline “isn’t aggressive enough” given the implications of plastic pollution on ecological services and human health.
Seaweed surging
Notpla’s funding round marks a milestone in the growth of algae-based packaging innovation. This year, Russian and Indian scientists created a water-soluble, edible film for food packaging, dissolving by 90 percent within 24 hours.
Finland-based biosciences business Brightplus also joined algae innovation company Origin by Ocean on research harvesting algae from the Baltic Sea. The collaboration is focusing on examining different decorative and barrier properties of seaweed-based biomass, which can provide, for example, haptic effects for glass coatings.
In August, DS Smith also began investigating the use of seaweed fibers in packaging applications to reduce carbon emissions associated with traditional materials like wood. The company will investigate algae potential to act as a barrier coating, replacing petroleum-based materials.
By Louis Gore-Langton
