Swapping out plastics for seaweed

Plastic packaging is washing up on shores around the world. An unlikely solution may be washing up on the shores right along with it.

Seaweed-derived packaging has emerged as a possible alternative to the incumbent plastic packaging, with 15 to 20 examples of seaweed packaging being tested this year alone. The tests are underway in Norway, India and the UK, with greentech startups and university spin-outs leading the way.

If seaweed tests prove successful, what is the next hurdle in the way of adopting bioplastic alternatives more broadly?