Hate plastic packaging? Four startups with biodegradable solutions

Do you feel guilty when handed your food in a plastic container? Many do, with good reason. Plastic is killing our oceans (there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050), and is disastrous for our health (we ingest up to a credit card’s worth of microplastics daily through our tap water, food and table salt, and trace amounts are now present in babies at birth). Thankfully, change is coming. Here are four startups leading the way.

By Luke Heilbuth ([email protected])

Eat your own wrapper

Evoware is an Indonesian startup that makes food wrappers and sachets out of seaweed. The invention means you can eat your burger with the wrapper still on, and dissolve your instant coffee, sachet and all, in hot water and drink it. Evoware packaging is nutritious, biodegradable, printable and heat sealable, they say, with a two-year shelf life. Founder David Christian was inspired to act by plastics clogging the Jakarta water system. Given Indonesia is the world's biggest seaweed producer and second-worst ocean plastic polluter after China, his solution is cost-effective and much-needed.

RIP, plastic straws

Similarly, LOLIWARE describes itself as the world's leading seaweed-based material technology company, with a mission to pioneer a plastic-free future with products ‘Designed to Disappear’. Chelsea Briganti, the company's Hawaiin CEO and co-founder, points to the regenerative and carbon-sequestering qualities of ocean kelp, which outperforms both paper and bioplastic as a sustainable material. LOLIWARE's seaweed straw can withstand more than 18 hours of continuous use and biodegrades once composted. A trailblazer of the ‘blue-carbon economy,’ Briganti is working to create cups, lids, utensils and packaging made entirely of kelp.

The edible blob

UK-based Notpla is developing a packaging material made from seaweed and plants, including a water-filled pod that allows athletes to replenish by biting off a corner and drinking. This ‘edible blob’, which can be swallowed or thrown aside to decompose, hydrated runners during the London half-marathon in March. Unilever and Just Eat (a food delivery service in London) are collaborating with Notpla on new products, including a compostable takeout container that’s waterproof and greaseproof. The company recently raised US$5 million in a VC-backed funding round.

Marvellous mycelium

Ecovative Design is an American pioneer of mycelium-based packaging. Mycelium is the root structure of mushrooms, which grows into massive branch-like structures under the soil. Ecovative scaffolds the fast-growing mycelium over agricultural waste (think hemp stalks and wood chips) to produce what they say is cost-competitive, thermally insulated, water resistant and 100 percent compostable packaging. In late 2019, the company took US$10 million in fresh capital to automate the engineering of mycelium and to accelerate the growth of a related innovation in the plant-based meat substitute sector.

By Luke Heilbuth ([email protected])