Welcome to the Blue Climate Collective newsletter. Each month, we'll share a brief update on how our community of 75+ startups and stakeholders are elevating ocean-based solutions, along with the latest news from the ocean and climate community.
As we near the end of Plastic Free July, we wanted to highlight three Collective members who are embracing seaweed as a sustainable alternative to plastics. The three companies – Sway, Notpla, and Zerocircle – were each winners of the TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize powered by Lonely Whale – a three-year prize and accelerator to source and scale alternatives to thin-film plastics.
Thin-film plastics make up nearly half of ocean plastic pollution, and 180 billion thin-film polybags are produced each year for the fashion industry alone. Each of the winning companies has embraced seaweed as a sustainable alternative, and they are now rapidly advancing larger-scale adoption of their solutions:
- Sway is partnering with Florence, the outdoor gear brand founded by World Surf Champion John John Florence to package a limited edition board short in Sway's home compostable seaweed material. As part of Lonely Whale's Early Adopter Coalition, Florence is integrating seaweed polybags into their supply chain, starting with a limited edition boardshort. This news was recently featured in Surfer Magazine. A partnership with Burton, which is now exploring wrapping their snowboards with Sway’s packaging, also came about via the Early Adopter Coalition. Additionally, in partnership with Lonely Whale, Sway wrote a Plastic-Free July op-ed for Economist Impact titled, What if plastic could evolve to replenish the planet?, and the team has also been recently featured in Oceanographic, Rêve En Vert, and at Aspen Ideas.
- Zerocircle celebrated its fourth anniversary this month with two major milestones. The team acquired a 5,000-square-foot industrial space for a pilot plant, as well as commercial machinery to enable the team to scale processes and commercialize their natural polymers for the food takeaway industry. The team also scaled with the addition of a new head of polymer tech and a commercial director.
- Notpla, which also won Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, recently celebrated a major milestone, shipping its 10 millionth product. The UK-based company also supplied the boxes at Wimbledon for the tournament’s iconic strawberries and cream treat and the UEFA finals.
With plastic production increasing 20x over the past 50 years, a garbage truck of plastics entering the ocean every minute, and changes in public policy and public consciousness compelling broader action, we will need solutions like those from Sway, Zerocircle, and Notpla to scale significantly in the coming years. We hope you will consider ways to share and amplify their work and support other members of the Collective.
Additional updates from Collective Members:
- Vesta Earth recently completed the deployment of over 8,000 tons of carbon-removing sand off the coast of North Carolina in their second demonstration pilot. The project is expected to remove approximately 5,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
- Coral Vita is launching a $10M Series A to scale its commercial reef restoration platform and impact globally. The company has secured a lead investor, and is eager to connect with funds, organizations, brands, and individuals interested in learning more about its efforts to preserve ocean health.
- Global OTEC’s floating storm-resistant Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) structure being built under the EU-funded project PLOTEC has surpassed 50% completion of fabrication. The structure is under construction at Hidramar Shipyard in Gran Canaria, Spain, and will be installed in the Atlantic Ocean in the coming months for testing and validation. Leading the project as OTEC technology developers, Global OTEC aims to accelerate the renewable energy transition for tropical islands vulnerable to severe weather, enabling OTEC to operate reliably even during storms.
- Coral Guardian is launching a new coral restoration project in Kilifi, Kenya. This new long-term project will provide solutions to the severe degradation of coral reefs in Kilifi county, where several local communities depend on fishing for food. Together with local non-profit Oceans Alive, Coral Guardian will train community members in coral restoration to protect and restore 70 hectares of coral reef and raise awareness.
- GKinetic recently joined the BREW 2.0 programme in Milwaukee where the team pitched (video here) at a water-tech The team is also building two units for their first customer install in coming weeks.