Packaging Made From Seaweed

A massive leap forward towards a future where virgin materials are derived from restorative inputs

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updated October 10, 2024

Our EcoAlly community is eager to reduce our collective dependence on petroleum for packaging. Enter seaweed: a renewable input that is rapidly gaining attention as a plastic-free packaging feedstock. We are thrilled to partner with Sway – the leader in seaweed packaging development and innovation – to bring you packaging options that incorporate their seaweed-based flexible films.

Sway Polybag

Looking for an alternative to the virgin clear poly bag? The Sway Polybag is here! Learn about this innovation and request free samples branded in Black Algae Ink.

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Folding Cartons
with Sway Window

Stock retail folding cartons with Sway seaweed film window. Available in two designs: gable top display box and candle box.

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Custom Cartons
with Sway Window

Create a custom branded retail box and incorporate a Sway seaweed film window into any style and size box. MOQ of 2500.

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Get Started on a Sway Packaging Project

By incorporating Sway packaging into your business’s strategy, you are paving the way for restorative materials to become more mainstream and widely available in the long term, helping make significant progress toward EcoEnclose’s north star of packaging circularity.

Why We Love Seaweed

Deep Dive: Seaweed as a Packaging Input

Brands looking for petroleum-based plastic alternatives have options: corn, sugarcane, potatoes, cassava, rice, wood chips, and more. Most of these options are conventionally grown, with little insight into the production practices and land use conversion implications of the raw materials being used.

Our research has shown that many biobased inputs come with important environmental challenges, and some are actually more harmful than the fossil fuels they are replacing.

Seaweed is truly unique in its spectrum of value chain benefits!

Seaweed cultivation can regenerate marine ecosystems, mitigate ocean acidity, and support coastal communities threatened by climate change and overfishing. New science even suggests seaweed has massive potential to store carbon. In this way, packaging made from seaweed has the potential to actively replenish ecosystems rather than destroy them!

Explore our analysis of the environmental impact of seaweed compared to other bioplastic inputs.

packaging feedstocks: a comparative landscape page 2

packaging feedstocks: a comparative landscape page 3

We are thrilled to partner with Sway, a biomaterial innovation company dedicated to moving beyond sustainability towards regeneration.

Sway seeks to extend the ocean's inherent generosity by pairing seaweed's benevolent qualities with advanced materials science. They are designing next-generation replacements for plastic that replenish seas, soils, and coastal communities.

The resins and flexible films they are developing are the real deal.

Sway recognizes that scaling seaweed production must be done holistically to prioritize this feedstock’s social and ecological potential. They actively partner with various academic, research, and nonprofit organizations to ensure their success is interlinked with thriving communities and ocean health. Their partners include Lonely Whale, Environmental Defense Fund, 5 Gyres, Reef Check Worldwide, Oceans 2050, and Sustainable Ocean Alliance.

With home and industrial compostability as a mandate for Sway’s entire product portfolio, they rigorously test their films across various compostability and biodegradability standards.

In tests with the Compost Manufacturing Alliance, EcoEnclose’s preferred mechanism for industrial compostability certification, Sway FirstWave Film disappears entirely in less than 48 days. When tested for home compostability under Innovhub’s standards, Sway product windows compost entirely within 2-10 weeks. Sway FIrstWave film also meets the marine degradable ASTM standard D6691 and passes marine degradability testing with the New Materials Institute and Seattle Aquarium via the TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize in a real-world setting. Sway’s TPSea Flex film is currently undergoing the same rigorous testing for compostability.