4th November 2022
We are thrilled to announce that Notpla is an Earthshot Prize finalist! This "Nobel-like prize for the environment", led by Prince William, is designed to incentivise change and help repair our planet over the next ten years. Notpla is a finalist of the "Building a waste-free world" Earthshot, which recognises the outstanding contribution to "build a world where nothing goes to waste, and leftovers of one process become the raw materials of the next, just like they do in nature".
Are you tired of all the plastic packaging that gets used one time but will end up in the environment for potentially hundreds of years? The solution is in the sea. By harnessing the incredible power of seaweed, we are developing a portfolio of truly biodegradable packaging solutions that leave no trace after their use. Welcome to the Not-Plastic revolution!
What is the Earthshot Prize?
The Earthshot Prize is a global environmental prize led by Prince William and The Royal Foundation, designed to incentivise change and help repair our planet over the next ten years. Two strategic imperatives embody this aim. The first is to support environmental innovators and scale the impact of their solutions. The second is to spark urgent optimism and action through culture-shaping storytelling.
The Prize focuses on five ambitious goals for our planet called 'Earthshots':
- Protect and restore nature
- Clean our air
- Revive our oceans
- Build a waste-free world
- Fix our climate.
The Earthshot Prize looks for the most inspiring solutions to the world's most significant challenges. Prizes are awarded to a wide range of individuals, teams, or collaborations - scientists, activists, economists, community projects, leaders, governments, banks, businesses, cities, and countries – anyone whose workable solutions contribute to achieving the Earthshots.
Notpla is one of the three finalists for the category “Building a waste-free world” Earthshot.
This year, the Earthshot Prize scoured the world for the most inspiring and impactful solutions to repair the planet and nominated 1000 solutions from 100 countries. Notpla is one of the three finalists selected for the "Building a waste-free world" Earthshot, together with the City of Amsterdam and Fleather.
As a society, we use three times as many resources as we did in 1970, increasing with GDP and population (IPCC, 2021; WRI, 2021a). We are clearing 2 million hectares of forests annually (FAO, 2018; FAO, 2021). If we continue at this rate, our global resource use will double by 2050 and waste with it (Lamb et al., 2021).
This year, The Earthshot Prize is prioritising three ways to build a waste-free world:
- Preventing the excessive use of resources: the priority is to reduce the use of resources, especially for food, to decrease the pressure on natural resources and raw material.
- Extending the use of goods: the priority is to extend the use of goods – such as clothes, food, and plastics and packaging – that have been produced already through circular economy principles. Principles like reuse, repair, and remanufacture.
- Better waste management. We must improve at managing our waste once generated, particularly food waste and plastics pollution.
This award recognises the outstanding contribution of Notpla to "build a world where nothing goes to waste, where the leftovers of one process become the raw materials of the next, just like they do in nature".
Notpla prioritises the first way to build a waste-free world, "Preventing the extensive use of resources". Indeed, by using seaweed to develop its portfolio of biodegradable packaging, Notpla is leading the way in reducing society's reliance on unnecessary single-use packaging.
Seaweed is one of the planet's most abundant sources of biomass - Giant Kelp's biomass increases by 20% per day. Its production does not compete with food crops and requires no fertiliser or fresh water. Finally, seaweed farmed for its production captures carbon 20 times faster than trees, addressing one of the critical causes of the climate crisis. If 9% of the ocean had seaweed farms, we could draw down all the CO2 we produce (La Revolution des Algues, Vincent Doumeizel).
Notpla packaging is designed to perform, not to last. In line with the new EU Single-Use Plastic Directive, which aims to ban synthetic materials such as PLA and other bioplastics, Notpla materials biodegrade in nature in just 4-6 weeks without industrial composting or special conditions.
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Notpla is to be assessed by Sir David Attenborough, Shakira and Jack Ma
As one of the three finalists selected for the "Building a waste-free world" Earthshot, Notpla will be profiled in a global communications campaign and given tailored support and access to The Earthshot Prize's vast network of businesses, philanthropists, investors, and NGOs.
In the first week of December, the 2022 Awards Ceremony will take place in Boston, USA, and will be broadcast on the BBC (in the UK), PBS (in the United States) and Youtube in other territories. The Earthshot Prize Council, composed of a global team of influencers from a broad range of sectors, including Prince William, Sir David Attenborough, Cate Blanchett, Shakira and Jack Ma, will select and announce the five winners in an Awards Ceremony. On top of the promotion of their work, the five winners will receive £1million to scale their solutions.
Time to celebrate!
As a company on a mission to make packaging disappear, our day-to-day commitment is to fight against single-use plastic. We feel incredibly grateful to receive the endorsement of such a prestigious price!
Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez, our co-founder and co-CEO, said: "There is currently a huge imbalance between how long single-use plastic packaging is used and how long it will last in our environment. Notpla's solution is a range of packaging made from seaweed that can be eaten or disappears in just 4-6 weeks, just like a piece of fruit! We are delighted to be an Earthshot Prize finalist as it recognises the tremendous effort that our team is making to "Build a waste-free world".
Pierre-Yves Paslier, co-founder and co-CEO of Notpla, added: "Fourteen million tonnes of plastic enter our oceans yearly. We founded Notpla when we discovered the solution lies in our oceans too. We are already replacing plastic that plagues our seas and working with seaweed farms that give back to the environment and the local economy. Thank you for recognising us as we take our next big step and eliminate single-use plastic for good!"
Discover more about our portfolio of plastic-replacing products. Or contact Margaux to learn more about Notpla's mission and the Earthshot Prize.
