Notpla is a revolutionary, seaweed-based material that naturally decomposes in weeks (700 years for plastic). A pioneering, sustainable packaging start-up on a mission to make packaging as we know it disappear, naturally.

Born to find a solution to single-use plastic, Notpla is an edible, tasteless, biodegradable material made from plants and seaweed. This innovative technology can be used directly to replace plastic cups at sporting events, festivals and private parties, as well as sachets for condiments, and can be made into thin films or a coating for cardboard to create a wide range of products.

From the founders’ kitchen in 2013, via working alongside chemists at Imperial College London, to creating the Notpla brand with us in 2020, Co-founders Pierre Paslier a former packaging engineer and Rodrigo Gonzalez a product engineer, are driven by a shared desire to create something that has not been done before.

Seaweed is one of nature’s most renewable resources. It grows fast, is globally abundant and readily available. It doesn’t compete with food crops for land, nor does it need fresh water to grow. It actively sequesters CO2 and de-acidifies the oceans. Notpla is a low-carbon material that generates 96% less carbon emissions.

It’s not exactly common practice to define a brand/material by what it isn’t. But when what it isn’t is one of the world’s biggest problems – plastics – then, that’s OK.

Notpla is designed to be a simple, bold definition of who they are. Not plastic. But a completely new thing.

Unlike PLA or other bioplastics, Notpla is not a plastic (it's a blend of polysaccharides). It's therefore very easy for nature to deal with it, meaning that the packaging is not only meeting the requirements for industrial and home compostability, it actually breaks down faster than the peel of an orange.

The seaweed coating, which is clear and tasteless, can either be eaten or composted.

Originally starting out as Skipping Rocks Lab, Notpla have been making an impact on climate innovation since 2013. Notpla’s team of chemists, engineers, designers and entrepreneurs is backed by impact VC funds both in the US (Lupa System, Torch Capital) and in Europe (Sky Ocean Ventures, Astanor Ventures). Notpla raised a post-seed round of £4m in Dec. 2019 to support the industrialisation efforts and start commercialisation of Notpla products.

To date Notpla has produced 400,000 sachets. In 2019, the brand was trialled at major international events such as the London Marathon and London Cocktail Week.

Over the past couple of years Notpla have continued to improve the properties of the material to obtain better strength and impermeability while further reducing environmental impact and cost. The patent pending material and proprietary machines are allowing Notpla to not only eliminate single use plastics, but also reduce carbon footprint. Notpla ketchup sachets reduce the CO2 emissions by 70% compared to a typical Heinz ketchup sachet made of plastic.

To date, Notpla has replaced over 300,000 single use plastic packaging at top tier events such as the London Marathon and Rolland Garros. Notpla is running commercial pilots with companies like Unilever, Lucozade and Just Eat, helping them to reduce their impact and meet their SDG goals.

Notpla now has a food grade production demonstrator in East London capable of producing 20,000 units per week and are using it as a blueprint for replicating hubs in other cities.

Notpla are also exploring new applications for the material as a coating for cardboard food service boxes, as well as a heat sealable film for dry products. The Notpla box will be trialed by Just Eat restaurants across Europe in April 2021.