Notpla Pearls: A seaweed based alternative to plastic packaging in the cosmetics industry.

The world's annual consumption of plastics has increased from 5 million tonnes in the 1950s to nearly 100 million tonnes today. The UK generates an estimated 5 million tonnes of plastic waste per annum, more than 40kg per household. Ten supermarket chains are responsible for placing over 800,000 tonnes of single-use plastics on the market every year.

This is in addition to over 1.1 billion single-use bags, 958 million bags for life and 1.2 billion produce bags for fruit and vegetables. With the development of the Notpla Pearl, we aim to produce the world's first 100% natural, biodegradable plastic-wrap replacement product within the cosmetics industry.

We have achieved considerable success developing our unique consumer product, Ooho, a patented natural membrane packaging derived from seaweed extract and used in single use packaging for liquids, sauces, and gel sachets.

Based upon this technology we have subsequently developed Notpla, a range of prototype plastic-free film packaging suitable for multiple applications and industries. Having validated the concept in the lab, we now need to refine its composition, upscale and automate the technology, demonstrating its viability, so that is can be used in industrial applications and make a significant impact in terms of reducing plastic usage, waste and the adoption of sustainable technologies.