Notpla: the London start-up replacing plastic linings with seaweed

Ooho edible seaweed capsules filled with water. — Ooho, Notpla's edible seaweed capsule, filled with water. Image: 林阿君, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The problem

Takeaway food has a hidden plastic problem. Many boxes, trays and cups that look like paper are lined with a thin film of polyethylene so that they hold grease and liquid. That lining makes them hard to recycle in normal paper mills and means they cannot be composted at home. Under the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive, products made partly of plastic, including plastic-lined paper, count as single-use plastics and face labelling, reduction and producer responsibility rules (EUR-Lex).

Fully compostable alternatives often use bioplastics such as PLA, which only break down in industrial composting plants and still count as plastic under EU law.

The product

Notpla’s core commercial product is a seaweed-based coating for paper and board. It makes takeaway boxes, fries trays, punnets and carriers grease- and water-resistant without plastic. In the Netherlands, the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate confirmed that Notpla-coated trays are fully plastic-free and therefore fall outside the Single-Use Plastics rules (Packaging Insights).

In May 2026 Notpla launched SeaView, a food-to-go range for sandwiches, wraps and salads that combines the seaweed coating with what it calls the world’s first transparent seaweed-film window, replacing the plastic film normally found in sandwich wedges and deli boxes. It was introduced at Arup’s London workplace canteen and won the Innovation in Packaging prize at the Footprint Awards in June 2026 (Notpla).

Notpla is best known for Ooho, a small edible capsule of water or sports drink wrapped in a seaweed membrane. At the 2019 London Marathon more than 36,000 Lucozade Ooho capsules were handed to runners instead of plastic cups and bottles (Imperial College London).

How it works

Seaweed and plants: Notpla extracts compounds from brown seaweed and combines them with plant materials. Seaweed grows fast and needs no fresh water, fertiliser or farmland.
Coating: the seaweed-based formulation is applied to paper or board instead of a polyethylene layer, making it resistant to grease and moisture.
Conversion: partners make standard packaging shapes, and distributors such as Conpax in the Netherlands handle logistics.
End of life: Notpla says its coated packaging is home compostable and free from plastic and microplastics (Imperial College London described its Just Eat box coating as biodegrading in weeks).
Ooho: for liquids, a seaweed membrane is formed around a measured dose of drink; the capsule is eaten whole, and Notpla says the membrane biodegrades naturally if thrown away.

Timeline

Date	Milestone
25 Jul 2014	Company registered in London as Skipping Rocks Lab
Apr 2019	36,000 Ooho capsules at the London Marathon
Jul 2019	Renamed Notpla
2022	More than one million seaweed-coated boxes made for Just Eat
2 Dec 2022	Wins the GBP 1 million Earthshot Prize, “Build a Waste-Free World”
24 Sep 2024	GBP 20 million Series A+ round led by UB Forest Industry Green Growth Fund
Jan 2026	EUR 4 million Horizon Europe project for plastic-free coffee cups
12 Feb 2026	Roll-out across 160 Kwalitaria restaurants in the Netherlands
8 May 2026	SeaView range launched
12 Jun 2026	Two Footprint Awards

Impact and numbers

Scale: Notpla said in September 2024 that it had replaced 16 million single-use plastic items, and aimed to replace more than 100 million a year within two years (Notpla).
Restaurants: the Kwalitaria roll-out is projected by Notpla to save 102.5 tonnes of CO2 and 6.9 tonnes of plastic waste a year.
Venues: Levy UK uses Notpla packaging at Wimbledon, Allianz Stadium, The Kia Oval and ExCeL London, and says the switch removed 2.5 tonnes of plastic from its operations in 2025 (Notpla).
Research: a three-year Horizon Europe project with 14 partners in Europe and Africa aims to develop a market-ready coffee cup with a fully natural, home-compostable coating (EU4Algae).
Funding: the 2024 round, more than double its target, included Temasek Trust’s Catalytic Capital for Climate & Health. Notpla has also received several Innovate UK and EU grants, including EU funding in 2025 for a coating made from agricultural waste and seaweed for single-use cups (North Data).

Honest caveats. Notpla’s numbers are its own: the CO2 and plastic savings for Kwalitaria and the 16 million items figure are company estimates, not independent audits. Sixteen million items is tiny next to the billions of takeaway containers used in Europe each year, and the 100 million a year target has not been publicly confirmed as met. Home compostable packaging only helps if people compost it; in most cities it ends up in general waste or, at best, industrial composting. A seaweed-coated box is still a single-use product, and reuse systems can have lower impacts where they work. Seaweed coatings may cost more than plastic-lined board, and large-scale seaweed farming has its own environmental questions. Notpla, like most scale-ups, still relies on investor and grant funding, and its detailed accounts are only available through Companies House filings.

What’s next

Notpla is working on a plastic-free disposable coffee cup through its Horizon Europe project, expanding SeaView in workplace catering and growing in North America. Its biggest test is whether quick-service chains beyond Kwalitaria adopt the coating as the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation tightens rules on packaging from 2026 onwards.

Why it matters for Europe / green buyers

For European caterers, Notpla offers something rare: takeaway packaging that is confirmed as plastic-free under EU single-use plastics rules, so it avoids SUP labelling and fees, while working on existing packing lines. For event organisers and stadiums, it is a proven option at venues like Wimbledon. Buyers should check local waste systems and ask for test data on grease resistance and composting. Because the packaging falls outside the plastics rules, it can also help caterers avoid the plastic-free alternatives that simply swap one polymer for another, such as PLA-lined board.

India banned many single-use plastic items, including plastic cups, cutlery, straws and trays, from 1 July 2022 (PIB). Notpla does not operate in India, but India has a long coastline and a growing seaweed farming sector, and a seaweed-based coating for paper food packaging could suit its large takeaway and street-food market.