Seaweed Sachets
Seaweed farming at low tide at Nusa Lembongan island
Plant-based plastics can be environmentally sound packaging, many are biodegradable in soil, but they suffer a shared flaw – they don’t degrade in seawater.
The United Nation’s top environmental scientist explains that “a lot of plastics labeled biodegradable, like shopping bags, will only break down in temperatures of 50 Centigrade and that is not the ocean. They are also not buoyant, so they’re going to sink, so they’re not going to be exposed to UV light and break down.”
Photo courtesy Evoware
Seaweed Sachets
David Christian turned to the sea for a solution. His native Indonesia is the second largest producer of seaweed globally. It is also one of the worst plastic polluters. “Plastics are contaminating everything, our air, our food, and even our water,” he said. So Christian, one of four founding partners of Evoware set out to create a natural, sustainable packaging film that is not plastic. The result is sheets of a food-safe, edible film that is pleasantly opaque, nearly odorless, tasteless, heat sealable, and dissolves in warm water.
Evoware packaging film is created with a non-chemical process. The film has a two-year shelf life, even without preservatives, is nutritious with high fiber and essential vitamins. The film is printable using natural colored dyes and a great fertilizer when discarded.
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It is biodegradable in soil and water. It is currently being used as food wrap and to make seasoning packets for instant noodles (the packets dissolve in the cup). He is also experimenting with sachets containing coffee.
The 6cm x 6cm coffee sachet readily infuses and the remaining micro-grounds and sachet are backyard compostable.
Some 70% of packaging is for food and beverage with sizeable tonnage used for coffee and tea. Christian said he is concerned that there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050.
In 2017 Evoware won a $1 million Circular Design Challenge grant presented by the European Union. The company will soon complete its participation in the New Plastic Economy Accelerator Program.
Learn more: www.evoware.id