Reimagining the ways we package and consume beverages (interview with pierre paslier of notpla)
Pierre Paslier (@pierre.paslier) is an innovation design engineer and the co-founder and co-CEO of NOTPLA, (@notpla) an innovative, eco-conscious packaging start-up. His company's main and most well-known invention is Ooho, an edible water packet made of seaweed.
In this podcast episode, Pierre sheds light on how he learned from biomimicry to develop and fine-tune his idea to package drinks in edible packets; the difference between bioplastics that require industrial composting and ones that readily biodegrade in the soil (or are even edible!); and more.
To start, get a glimpse below into the conversation between Pierre and Green Dreamer Podcast's host, Kamea Chayne.
Musical feature: Trust The Sun by Mountain Twin by Joel Porter (@JoelPorterMusic)
“Because seaweed is not grown using land-based agriculture, it doesn’t use any freshwater and it doesn’t use any fertilizers — it just grows on its own. So that’s really interesting when you start thinking about those operations at scale.”
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This is a conversation on Green Dreamer with Kamea Chayne, a podcast and multimedia journal illuminating our paths towards ecological balance, intersectional sustainability, and true abundance and wellness for all. This preview has been edited for clarity. Subscribe to Green Dreamer Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or any podcast app to stay informed and updated on our latest episodes.
On using seaweed as the base material:
“One of the things that really matters to us is that seaweed doesn't compete with food crops.
You hear a lot about PLA, for instance, which is a bioplastic that is made from corn starch. But obviously, if we start just farming corn for making PLA, we're diverting food away from Southern geographies.
On top of that, because seaweed is not grown using land-based agriculture, it doesn't use any freshwater and it doesn't use any fertilizers, so it just grows on its own. That's something that's really interesting when you start thinking about operations at scale.”
On the issues with bioplastics that require industrial composting:
“First of all, having something that requires a specific type of composting is creating a whole lot of issues in the waste management industry. For example, the most popular bioplastic, PLA, which is made from corn starch, requires a very hot, very humid environment to start biodegrading.
If you don't put it in such an environment, it will still stay in the environment for hundreds of years just like regular plastic. And it will break down into microplastics just like regular plastic.
So it shows how important it is to have an equal amount of the right kinds of facilities as the amount of bioplastic we are putting into the market. Currently, we're very far from that, so that's a big problem.
The other issue is that bioplastics contaminate existing recycling streams.
One of the big problems with PLA, as well as some other bioplastics, is that they look so similar to conventional plastics that when they get mixed in the recycling, a very small percentage of them can contaminate an entire batch of plastic. So actually, they may do more damage than they're able to solve the problem.”
Final words of wisdom:
"Don't stop dreaming, because everything is possible.
