Only 9% of plastic gets recycled globally, and there are more than 86 million tonnes of plastics in our oceans. More than 99% of plastics are currently produced from chemicals derived from oil, natural gas, and coal – all of which are non-renewable resources.
Kelpi is on a mission to tackle plastic pollution through the development of biomaterials made from seaweed and other natural and renewable resources, that can not only match but even exceed the performance of fossil fuel plastic alternatives.
Kelpi’s material has an excellent long-term water and acid barrier, achieved through sustainable and novel chemical functionalisation. Kelpi’s material is applied as a coating to paper, card, and other fibre substrates, meaning it is certified recyclable, compostable, and marine-safe at end of life, and is adaptable to address specific product requirements defined by our clients, for example to package a range of commercial products, including dry, wet, liquid, acidic and greasy products.
Kelpi is targeting large FMCGs in food & drink, home & personal care, who’s ambitious sustainability targets for packaging can be resolved through Kelpi’s solutions. Kelpi’s focus is on developing coatings for paper, card, and other fibre substrates, that perform like plastic, but are recyclable, biodegradable and marine safe. There is a need to provide truly sustainable products that have an extended shelf life, that provide water, oxygen and grease barriers as well as withstand high temperatures. It was extremely important to Kelpi when developing this material that it was recyclable and compostable without causing harm to the natural environment by leaving microplastics and toxins behind.
Kelpi have achieved this through building in bonds seen in nature into the chemistry, meaning that it will break down safely and leave no trace behind. Kelpi is already working with several global leaders across food, drink and personal care, including L’Oréal, Diageo and Waitrose, helping them achieve their ambitious sustainability goals reducing the 460 million tonnes of plastic that is produced each year.
Kelpi also works with established global packaging partners to test the properties of our material against often technical parameters, as well as third party manufacturers who are supporting the scale up of our material production. We are developing long-lasting relationships with these partners to drive change at scale.
Kelpi’s material is certified recyclable (CPI & 4evergreen), and therefore can be placed in domestic recycling facilities whilst still applied to its paper or card substrate. This convenience drives a much higher recycle rate than plastic (c. 80% recycle rate compared to plastic at c. 9%) meaning that not only is the packaging recyclable, but that it actually will get recycled through the convenience of the existing paper and card kerbside waste streams.
Our clients have ambitious targets to reduce their plastic usage and through their collaboration with Kelpi, we are already helping them achieve these goals, delivering unique, recyclable solutions to huge FMCG companies and markets.