More thin film packaging like polybags, retail bags and wrappers will be compostable and even carbon negative if Sway has its way. The Sway startup makes makes seaweed-based, home-compostable replacements for plastic packaging. And its materials even come in a rainbow of colors.
The company, winner of the Beyond the Bag Challenge back in March, has just closed on a first raise of $2.5 million, led by Starbucks’ Valor Siren Ventures.
With the funding, Sway is moving closer to launching pilots next year, says Julia Marsh, cofounder and CEO in Berkeley, California. Investors include Alante Capital, the Sustainable Ocean Alliance and Conservation International Ventures.
Sway’s seaweed-based replacements for plastics offer immense ecological and social benefits in the face of climate change, Marsh says.
Annually, about 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide, according to Plastic Oceans. About 180 billion plastic bags (polybags) are produced every year to store, transport, and protect garments, footwear and accessories. Less than 15% of polybags in circulation are collected for recycling, according to Fashion For Good.
“At the end of its life, (Sway’s) material is going to disappear in four to six weeks,” Marsh notes.
Besides that, the product has a 12-month shelf life and seaweed used to make Sway materials can sequester up to 20 times more carbon per acre than trees, all without requiring freshwater, land, pesticides or other inputs.
Marsh notes that Sway materials also fit into existing supply chains without any new infrastructure.
Getting Out the Bags
The bag pilots will start with smaller-scale efforts via Beyond the Bag and build to larger rollouts with initiative partners CVS Health, Target and Walmart. Sway is in conversations with brands in the fields of cosmetics, surfing, outdoor apparel, premium luxury items and footwear.
“We want to make sure it feels good and that people like it and that they’re actually composting it,” Marsh says of the bags.
It’s also important that people attribute value to the material and that the story of seaweed resonates: These are compostable bags to replace ones made with petroleum, Marsh says.
Initial pilots will involve from 1,000 to 300,000 retail and polybags, starting in mid-2022. Sway is working with the Compost Manufacturing Alliance to ensure the seaweed materials will be compatible with industry standards.
Harvesting the Seaweed
Using seaweed in place of traditional plastic sounds like a good idea, but harvesting seaweed and taking it away from the ocean and its creatures doesn’t.
Marsh says Sway won’t be doing that.
“We exclusively work with ocean farms. We’re not talking about wild harvesting or taking material away that’s just naturally growing in the ocean.”
These farms grow seaweed in spots of the ocean, in places like Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and the East Coast and Alaska in the United States. And harvesting the seaweed is like giving the plants a haircut, not pulling them out by the roots, Marsh notes. Sway is working with responsible ocean seaweed farms that adhere to Aquaculture Stewardship Council-Marine Stewardship Council standards.
“We’re continually expanding these supply relationships because we never want to be too dependent on a farm, area or species (of seaweed),” she says. “... We just want to envision thriving seaweed farms, where the ocean’s being restored and we’re helping to alleviate the plastics problem.”
Seaweed can reverse the effects of ocean acidification—different types have been used for cleaning up polluted areas—and encourages biodiversity.
“Another beautiful thing about seaweed farming is, it offers reliable employment to places affected by overfishing, with less labor and lower costs and inputs. You plant the seaweed, essentially, and you let it grow.”
The ultimate goal is to deliver a carbon-negative material, Marsh says. The plan is to have Sway bags in the hands of consumers on a large scale for Plastic Free July 2022.
