In the United Kingdom, food delivery platform Just Eat claims it has made the world’s first take-out container made from seaweed and cardboard.
Developed in collaboration with packaging startup Notpla, the new to-go container is cardboard with a seaweed liner. It is recyclable but can also decompose in a month when included in home composting units.
The companies have partnered with three London restaurants to test 3,600 of the containers—a mere fraction of the 500 million take out containers the country uses annually.
“Over half a billion plastic boxes are used across the takeaway industry every year and we know that eventually, they end up in landfill,” says Andrew Kenny, Just Eat UK Managing Director. “This is why we have been working closely with Notpla to create an innovative alternative that is recyclable, home-compostable and which degrades in a matter of weeks.”
Just Eat and Notpla have previously collaborated to produce and trial the use of ketchup packets from seaweed. To date, that effort has prevented 46,000 plastic ketchup packets from entering landfills, and they are working with Hellmann’s to expand the offering.