25 years old, Indonesian inventor, David Christian has co-founded a startup company called Evoware that produces eco-friendly alternatives to plastic food packaging made from farmed, edible seaweed.
Evoware developed a brand new plastic sachet and packaging that is eco-friendly, biodegradable or even edible and healthy for the body. The raw material of this new product is seaweed farmed in Indonesia and the whole endeavour also has an impact on the livelihood of the local seaweed farmers.
The new product has the following characteristics:
- It dissolves in warm water, making it a zerowaste product 100% biodegradable and works as a natural fertilizer for plants.
- It has 2 years of shelf life, even without preservative Halal certified, safe to eat and produced in compliance with HACCP standards
- Nutritious, contains high fiber, vitamins and minerals
- Can be customized to give specific taste, color and brand logo
- Printable and heat sealable
The start up claims that it is almost tasteless and odourless and the packaging can last for 2 years in a cool and dry place.
The many applications of this seaweed-based packaging include small-format food sachets and wraps like instant noodle seasoning, cereal, single serving coffee powder and the complements, rice wrap, burger wrap, etc. In addition, it can be used to package non-food based contents such as toothpicks, soap bars and sanitary pads.
Recent IEA report on the petrochemical industry, brought to light that the industry’s growth, over the next years, could double the amount of plastics in the sea by 2030. Furthermore, on the same page, new study that examined sea, rock, and lake salt sold around the world found microplastics in 90% of the table salt.
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In respect of this unfortunate findings, attempts like this new plastic sachets and other projects like Seabioplas, a European project that uses cultivated seaweeds as feedstocks for biodegradable bioplastics, are more than welcome in order to reduce the volume of plastics that end up into the oceans.
More information for the innovation can be found on the following video from Evoware:
