Single-Use Plastics Are Being Replaced… with Seaweed!

The global demand for seaweed is growing due to its potential to replace plastic, and even cattle feed, helping to curb climate change.

“Seaweed is not going to replace all plastic, but seaweed combined with other things can tackle single-use plastic. We are barely scratching the surface,” says Pierre Paslier, co-founder of NotPla, a company that creates packaging that comes from nature, like seaweed, and is able to quickly disappear back into nature.

Countries around the world – including the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, and South Korea – are growing, harvesting, and/or transforming seaweed into packaging for things such as to-go food containers and water “bottles” – ultimately replacing their single-use plastic counterparts. However, altering marine ecosystems to grow more seaweed is a fragile situation that must be carefully monitored and executed so as not to create more problems in an already complex, changing environment, experts warn. What’s more, seaweed can even be used to feed cattle: In Australia, for example, incorporating a bit of the asparagopsis seaweed in cattle feed can reduce methane, caused by their burps, by up to 98 percent!