After you finish your fries,eat the ketchup packet.When you add your pasta to boiling water,put the bag into the pot,too.If these instructions sound confusing to you,it's only because you haven't yet heard of Notpla,a London-based startup company that is designing a seaweed-based replacement for single-use plastic packaging.Notpla design director Karlijn Sibbel says they look on nature as inspiration for the ideal packaging like the skin on a fruit. " A peel will eventually be used as nutrients by nature,and disappear and become a part of the cycle. " she said.
According to the UN,9.15 billion tons of plastic has been produced since the early 1950s,and about 60% has been land-filled or abandoned outdoors.Micro-plastics, which are often the result of larger plastics breaking down,pollute the ocean,the air and our bodies.Over the past few years, there has been a growing movement against single-use plastics as many experts have argued the products are unnecessary and harmful.In the US, some places have taken action:New York banned most plastic shopping bags,and in Miami Beach,plastic straws have been outlawed. " Overseas,the European Union put a broad ban on single-use plastics into effect this summer. " the government announced in August.
"Notpla's founders, Rodrigo Garoia González and Pierre Paslie,initially looked to seaweed as the solution to the world's plastic problem because it is abundant,grows quickly,doesn't compete with land crops. " Sibbel explained.There are also many different seaweed species,and it can be harvested or farmed.Seaweed doesn't use land;it doesn't use pesticides.It can grow into the ocean and the sea, where it actually has a lot of positive benefits so it can create new ecosystems for other organisms to thrive in.
"As they scale up, Notpla's team hopes seaweed could replace single-use plastic in the supply chain more broadly. " Sibbel said.But with the volume of plastics used around the world,she understands the enormity (巨大) of such a task. "I don't think one material or one solution is going to solve everything,but we think that seaweed really ticks the right boxes. " she said.