Notpla: turning the tide on single-use plastic

Single-use plastic is a major source of global pollution with devastating impacts on marine wildlife. UK-based startup Notpla is tackling this challenge with a groundbreaking solution: regenerative packaging made from seaweed and plants.

With support from EIT Food, Notpla has already replaced over 21.5 million single-use plastic items across Europe, and recently secured funding to expand into new markets and push towards its goal of replacing 100 million single-use plastic items a year.

04 Jun 2025

5 min reading time

Sailing towards a circular future

Plastic has entered many parts of daily life since its invention in the 1950s, and it is undoubtedly convenient. The trouble is that plastic takes hundreds of years (and microplastics even longer) to degrade, and the vast majority is not recycled. Most of the plastic ends up in landfills, where particles leach into waterways, polluting ecosystems and accumulating in our oceans.

4 alarming facts about marine plastic waste

Plastic waste makes up around 80% of all marine pollution, with 8 to 10 million tonnes entering the ocean each year.
Under current trends, the volume of plastic in the ocean is set to double by 2050, meaning plastic could outweigh fish in the sea. (1)(2)
More plastic has been produced in the last 10 years than in the entire 20th century.
Plastic typically takes 500 to 1,000 years to degrade — and even then, it breaks into microplastics, not fully disappearing.

The average European produces 186.5 kg of packaging waste each year, and 20% of this is plastic from food and other products. (3) Plastic production also accounts for 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions throughout its lifecycle, driving climate change in the process (4).

To unlock real change, packaging must evolve from a linear, throw-away model to one that mimics nature: circular, compostable, and clean. Solutions like seaweed-based materials offer a powerful alternative: fully functional yet designed to disappear without a trace. By replacing plastic at scale, innovators like Notpla are opening new pathways to reduce waste, cut carbon, and restore balance in the food system.

Out to sea with fossil plastics

Since Notpla’s founding in 2014, its packaging solutions have replaced over 21.5 million single-use plastic items in Europe to date. That includes seaweed takeaway containers used by Just Eat, as well as compostable packaging at venues including the O2 Arena, and the football stadiums of Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa.

Notpla’s innovation contributed to a regulatory breakthrough in 2023, when the Dutch government ruled that its coating was the only food packaging on the market to qualify as not plastic under the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) – a landmark moment in pushing forward better policy and standards across Europe.

Standard plastics are made from petroleum and natural gas. They are byproducts or derivatives of fossil fuel production. In recent years, many alternative plastics have entered the market, touted as more eco-friendly because they are made from plants and other natural fibres. But even when the raw materials are more sustainably sourced, the final products can often still break down into microplastics, or other harmful chemicals such as PFAs.

Alternative “no plastic” solutions from sources such as seaweed have the advantage of being truly biodegradable. Notpla’s packaging also delivers environmental benefits. Each unit that replaces conventional plastic requires up to 70% less carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2-eq). This means that 600 tonnes of CO2 are avoided and four tonnes of trees are saved for every one tonne of seaweed waste used. (5)

In 2024, Notpla joined EIT Food’s RisingFoodStars programme, a platform designed to accelerate the most promising agrifood and foodtech scaleups. For Notpla, the programme has been a launchpad for growth, connecting the team to influential partners, expert mentors and investors aligned with their mission. EIT Food has since deepened its support by contributing to Notpla’s recent $25 million fundraising round through our AgrifoodInvest programme, joining forces with United Bankers, C3H by Tamasek Trust, the Schmidt Family Foundation, and Radical Impact.

"We are thrilled to have secured this level of investment in such a competitive environment. This round not only validates our approach but also positions us to capitalise on the growing demand for truly plastic-free packaging solutions in global markets, especially as we look towards expansion into the US."

- Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez, Co-Founder and CEO of Notpla

Notpla's solutions have already prevented

21+

million single-use plastic items in Europe

70%

less carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2-eq)

tonnes of trees saved for every 1 tonne of seaweed waste used

Surfing a global wave of regeneration

Notpla is now expanding globally, with a vision to replace 100 million single-use plastic items a year and redefine how packaging fits into a regenerative food system.

The success of their recent funding round marks a turning point, unlocking the ability to scale manufacturing, expand into North America, and develop the next generation of seaweed-based packaging materials.

If successful, the long-term impact on the global food system would be profound. We can dramatically reduce waste, lower emissions, and improve environmental health without compromising convenience or performance. And Notpla estimates that replacing all single-use plastic with seaweed would require just 0.066% of the ocean, having a much smaller impact than land-grown materials.

It’s an ambition that requires more than capital. It calls for continued collaboration across the agrifood ecosystem, from policymakers and investors to brands and consumers, all working together to accelerate the shift away from fossil-based plastics. To this end, Notpla is actively forming new partnerships, driving regulatory advocacy, and helping establish sustainability benchmarks. Notpla founded the Natural Polymers Group to bring innovators together and accelerate the shift away from plastic, with members including Loliware, Xampla, and Marinatex.

As part of EIT Food’s mission to support innovation that delivers social economic and environmental value, Notpla’s success exemplifies what is possible when pioneering science meets committed partners and purpose driven investment.

“The success of Notpla’s recent funding round is hugely exciting, and demonstrates that there is continued appetite to drive agrifood innovation across the value chain, in spite of challenging economic conditions. We recognised Notpla’s potential when it was selected to join EIT Food’s RisingFoodStars programme earlier in 2024, and look forward to being part of its ongoing journey to tackle the packaging crisis for a more sustainable, regenerative food system.”

- Benoit Buntinx, Director of Business Creation, EIT Food

The future doesn’t wrap itself

In just a few years, Notpla has grown from a startup idea to an internationally recognised innovator, backed by major partners and trusted by global brands. Its materials are not just a concept: they are in consumers’ hands, in stadiums, in takeaway boxes, and on policymakers’ desks. This success didn’t happen in isolation. It was enabled by early-stage support, smart investment, and a thriving community network that recognises the value of regenerative thinking before it becomes a global imperative.

Success like this shows that meaningful change can happen fast under the right conditions. Seaweed might not seem the most glamorous of materials, but with the right people and the right ideas, it might just spark a revolution.

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