10113849Seaweed Pods Scale Up 2024ClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKThe current project aims to build on significant technical developments and research undertaken during previous projects to scale up the bioprocessing and manufacture of the worlds first viable alternative to Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA/PVOH) films -- a sustainable and biodegradable packaging material for laundry and personal care products: PlantSea-Pod. This project will facilitate industrial trials, key data collection, engagement with industry experts, and procurement of equipment to prepare, plan, and begin the scaling of this technology. PlantSea-Pod is a plastic-free soluble pod that dissolves in water, designed to encapsulate shampoo, personal care, and laundry products. PlantSea-Pod also fosters packaging re-use, by adopting the concept of a re-usable bottle-for-life and promoting the usage of refills of concentrated personal care goods (shampoo, conditioner, detergents) and other fluids (cleaning liquids), and offers a viable alternative to petroleum derived PVA and PVOH, supporting the delivery of Plastic Pact targets. The product will deliver multiple objectives of the WRAP Plastic Pact: a) Provide a new non-plastic product design and investigate the feasibility and scalability of an associated business model to deliver personal care ingredients. This will enable the elimination of millions of non-recyclable plastic parts, for example the spray pumps and caps, commonly found in bottles. This will decrease the volume of plastic waste components found in the environment. Contributing to target 1 of the UK plastic pact, which aims for 100% of plastic packaging to be re-usable, recyclable or compostable. b) Contribute to reducing the strain on recycling infrastructures, by eliminating complex packaging formats and helping to fulfil the recyclability of the remaining plastic packaging. c) Raise awareness and provide educational materials on possible approaches for plastic use reduction and re-use to achieve desired changes in consumer behaviour. d) Build a robust model for assessing sustainability and preventing substitution of plastics by less sustainable materials, using a complete life cycle and overall systems perspective.