This simple food container is made of a paperboard and a 100% natural seaweed coating. The coating gives the board greaseproof and water-resistant qualities so the box can hold your takeaway food.
Most takeaway food packaging uses a plastic or bioplastic lining to make it waterproof and greaseproof; this means they cannot be recycled or composted and will take many years to break down. The Notpla coating is instead seaweed-based meaning the cardboard box and coating are biodegradable and compostable, much like a fruit peel.
Seaweeds have evolved to be able to have free-movement of water in and out of the seaweed in an underwater environment; this gives the extracts hydrophilic (water-loving) properties, including being soluble in water, making them easy to apply as an aqueous coating. On top of this, the hydrophilic properties mean they are excellent at repelling oil, making the seaweed barrier perfect for replacing plastic in order to hold greasy takeaway foods.
Where conventional containers have petrol-based coatings that stick around forever, or nasty chemicals known as PFAs, this one has a 100% natural seaweed coating. Once finished, the whole package can be recycled, composted and disappears without a trace - just like a fruit peel.
Both aqueous dispersion coatings and PLA are plastic coatings, Notpla’s coating contains no plastic. The Notpla coating is chemically identical to what is found in nature and hence easily breaks down leaving no harmful substances, especially no microplastics.
Aqueous dispersion coatings are most often particles of petrochemical-derived polymers, such as polystyrene and acrylic, dispersed in water and sprayed onto board. When they break down, microplastics are released. They are often falsely labelled as ‘plastic-free’ because they get round legislation by being under a certain percentage of plastic.
PLA is a polymer which is synthetically prepared and does not exist in nature. The components of the polymer are from a natural source but once it is polymerised it is a plastic and hence breaks down into microplastics.
Notpla’s mission is to make packaging disappear, so we ensure that no matter how it’s disposed of, our seaweed coated packaging will return to nature, leaving no trace.
If paper recycling is available, this offers Notpla packaging a second life, further improving the sustainability. Just wipe away visible food before discarding it into the recycling bin. Notpla is also fully home and commercially compostable, decomposing naturally in weeks, without leaving microplastics.
Should Notpla packaging find its way into landfill, it will break down naturally and leave no harmful substances in the environment. Looks like nature really does know best.
We offer a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages suitable for a variety of events. If you are a beverage company, we’d love to hear from you! We’ve worked with brands such as Lucozade, Glen Livet and Jagermeister to create bespoke Ooho event experiences and are always looking for new innovative ways to deliver drinks sustainably.
Notpla Film is made from seaweed, plant and mineral extracts (no plastic or bioplastics). The films have been designed to replace traditional plastics (such as PVOH and polyethylene) as a sustainable alternative, they are manufactured on reels to be able to fit onto traditional packaging machinery. They can be dissolved in hot or cold water and composted like a piece of fruit. Both films are 100% biodegradable and home compostable.
Seaweed paper is a sustainable alternative to traditional paper made from seaweed. It is created through a process that involves extracting industrial by-products from seaweed and combining them to form paper sheets. This process is designed to reduce the environmental impact of paper production.
We specialize in creating bespoke prototypes with a focus on providing plastic-free solutions for global consumer brands.
Notpla is the name of our company and our materials. We are on a mission is to make packaging disappear, and are focused on providing sustainable alternatives to single-use packaging through the use of seaweed and plants.
