Seaweed is fast-growing and globally abundant – ideal for Notpla’s eco-friendly alternatives to plastic.
Wolfhead Distillery launched spirits in a paper bottle.
This story originally appeared in the Summer 2023 issue of strategy.
We’ve got two requirements for innovative packaging solutions: They shouldn’t harm the environment or inconvenience our daily routines. And with research showing that food packaging waste comprises approximately one-third of all household waste, clearly, there’s some room to grow. To inspire change and forge a different path, we’ve rounded up a few of the newest global trailblazers in sustainable packaging solutions.
Leader of the pack
Just when you thought drinking alcohol out of paper was unbecoming, Amherstburg, Ontario’s Wolfhead Distillery challenges conventions. It’s the first craft distillery to launch spirits in a paper bottle, one developed in partnership with Kinsbrae Packaging in Cambridge, ON. The bottle is lightweight, 100% recyclable, and has an 84% lower carbon footprint compared to a glass bottle. Spurred on by an LCBO challenge to introduce eco-friendly packaging, Wolfhead’s paper bottle took two years to develop, plan and design, and made it to shelves in time for St. Patrick’s Day.
Very a-peel-ing
Positively overwhelmed by the amount of reusable water bottles piled up in your recycling bin? Say no more because Swedish design studio Tomorrow Machine has a solution: GoneShells is a bottle made from a potato-starch-based material that’s designed to hold liquid, then meant to be discarded. Peeling the container like an orange causes it to become compostable or dissolvable. GoneShells tells us you can also eat the container, but we’ll let you be the guinea pig on testing that particular method. Keep us posted.
GoneShells store your beverage, then dissolve.
Weed storage
Seaweed: Not just for sushi rolls or getting caught in while swimming anymore. UK-based Notpla has created a line of eco-friendly packaging materials made from globally abundant and fast-growing seaweed, including takeaway food and bev containers, flexible film bags, rigid plastic-like solutions and more. Notpla’s materials are classified as natural and organic by EU law, making them truly biodegradable and home-compostable.
All that is good
The Good Cup boasts its own built-in lid.
The daily coffee run made eco-friendly and innovative. Hong Kong-based ChoosePlanetA’s Good Cup has an integrated lid that folds in on itself and locks in place. The cup is made entirely from sustainable paper created from renewable sources such as sugarcane waste, and manufacturing is compatible with existing machinery that already produces traditional cups. Another bonus: Good Cups pack flat, saving storage space and energy used in transportation.
What a beauty
Swap out Morrama’s cosmetics, not its containers.
We’ve all been there: You snag the latest shade of lipstick from your favourite brand, only to discover you’re really more of a winter. What a waste – of packaging, that is. But UK cosmetics brand Morrama is aiming to change that with a line of refillable lipsticks, palettes and creams. While refillables aren’t exactly a new concept in the beauty space, Morrama has factored in additional barrier solutions such as compostable instead of recyclable packages, recycling-friendly package liners, and storage-solutions for rarely used shades you’re simply not ready to part with yet.
