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Notpla food cartons and paper

Notpla food containers are home compostable in four to six weeks, says Simon Eccles

catering,” says Niall Russell, Notpla’s head
of marketing. “Over 15m units have been
used to date, to replace single-use plastics
and we expect to replace another 100m in
2025.”
The containers are folded and glued
trays, some with lids, that can be used in
place of the now-banned expanded foam
trays, or cardboard trays with laminated
plastic barriers. The packs are fully
approved for food-contact and offer an oil
barrier function that Notpla claims outper-
forms plastic in most applications.
“Most takeaway food packaging relies on
chemical or bioplastic linings, which pre-
vent recycling and can take years to break
down, leaching forever-chemicals and
microplastics into nature,” says Russell.
“Notpla’s coated board provides the same
grease and moisture resistance but is plas-
tic-free, biodegradable, and home-com-
What does it do? Specifications tic’, such as PLA (polylactic acid), saying: postable. It can be used in the same way as
Notpla is a British start-up company that “We share similar status with natural existing coated boards in the market, man-
ufactured and converted in existing indus-
has developed seaweed and other plant- Food containers organic materials, just like a fruit peel.” try facilities.
based, fully biodegradable alternatives to Board types White Notpla quotes estimates that all single- Notpla’s coated board complies with
plastics for packaging and other applica- or brown kraft use plastics could be replaced by farming
tions. It calls this “disappearing packaging”. and harvesting seaweed from just 0.066% European EC 1935/2004 and US FDA
In 2022 it won one of the Earthshot Prize Formats Straight or of the total ocean space – mainly around 21CFR176.170 regulations for food contact
environmental awards instigated by Prince curved trays in a coastlines for obvious practical reasons. materials. As with any food packaging, vir-
William, and late last year featured on a range of sizes and The product range so far includes Notpla gin fibres rather than recycled are a neces-
documentary on BBC TV that followed shapes (eg for Coating, for fully biodegradeable takeaway sity. The boards are FSC-certified and
some of the prize winners. Notpla had won burgers or hot food containers; Notpla Paper, using lefto- comply with EN 13430 (recyclability) and
the ‘Build a Waste-free World’ prize of dogs), some with ver seaweed fibres; Notpla Film for flexible BPI Industrial Compostability (US).
£1m. integral lids. packaging; Notpla Rigid, an injection After nine months testing, the Dutch gov-
Custom formats can
The company was founded by Pierre be ordered. mouldable material for cutlery and the like; ernment acknowledged Notpla Coating as
Paslier and Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez. They Notpla Pipette for single-serve edible oils; the first and, so far, only plastic-free mate-
met while studying Innovation Design Seaweed paper Notpla Pearls single-dose spheres; and the rial to meet the strict EU Single-Use
Engineering at Imperial College London original Ooho edible capsules (pictured at Plastics Directive standards.
and the Royal College of Art, where in 2013 Content Recycled top of p91).
they developed Ooho, a seaweed-based cellulose pulp with Here we’re looking at two of the products Recycling or composting
edible container for single-shot drinks or 30% seaweed fibres with relevance to printing and packaging: a The boxes are recyclable through stand-
sauces. They described seaweed as “a mira- series of water and greaseproof coated card- ard paper recycling streams if free of exces-
cle crop possessing all the necessary quali- board food containers, and the range of sive food contamination. They are also
ties for natural packaging, it’s incredibly printable papers. home-compostable in four to six weeks, or
flexible and strong, provides a natural bar- industrially compostable.
rier and – most importantly – the ability to When was it introduced and what are Even without active composting, dis-
take on new shapes.” the target markets? carded packs break down in nature, leaving
They set up Notpla in 2019 in Hackney “The range has been commercially avail- no microplastics or harmful residues. “We
Wick, east London, where they have devel- able since 2022 and is aimed at the food ser- call it ‘guilt-free disposal,’ which is helpful
oped further products from seaweeds and vice industry, including takeaway for businesses and consumers when waste
plants. They stress that this is not a ‘bioplas- restaurants, catering businesses, and event management is inconsistent,” says Russell.
“Super-sustainable containers, films and papers manufactured from a “miracle crop” – seaweed.”

30 PrintWeek MENA March 2025 www.printweekmena.com