Because Kelpy’s pellets can be made from various types of seaweed, it’s cheaper to produce than many other bioplastics on the market, the company says.
Kelpy’s pellets can even be made from seaweed harvested from farms or collected from invasive influxes – which are on the rise due to ocean warming and fertiliser runoff.
In one example, Kelpy is working with start-up SOS Carbon to collect an algae called sargassum that has been growing into large blooms that stretch for thousands of kilometres in the Caribbean, for use in its bioplastic.
SOS Carbon, which started out in 2018 as a research project at Boston’s MIT University, is training local fisherman to collect the algae using their fishing boats.
“The potential of the blue economy to improve the social and environmental fabric of the planet is enormous,” Quin says.
Kelpy, which is based in Jervis Bay on the east coast of Australia, says it has also run successful testing with some of the largest manufacturers in the world.
Since its launch in March 2021, Kelpy has begun pilots with multinational companies including Colgate Palmolive and Unilever.
Many other businesses are involved in the budding seaweed bioplastics sector around the world including Notpla, Algix, Evowear, Seaweed Energy Solutions, Oceanium, CuanTec, Nanollose, and Uluu.