Two companies caught my eye this week. One is based in Paris, the other in London. One works in material science, the other in retail logistics.
Both are looking for funding and going after a common enemy: plastic packaging.
I spoke to the founders last week.
A better system
I throw things in the recycling bin with guesswork, anxiety and hope. Are the juice packet and the screw top both recyclable? Was that cursory rinsing sufficient to avoid rejection at the depot as a result of cross-contamination?
Good faith become blind faith when I speculate on the fate of the yoghurt pots and berry punnets after they are collected by the bin men.
Plastic packaging remains more than a performative guilt issue. The carbon cost of making it and how it pollutes our land, waters and air remains an environmental priority.
Well over 100 million tons of plastic waste is produced and chucked every year. Around 10 per cent ends up in the ocean. We use plastic for a mere moment in the consumption of the things it encases and yet this indestructible material is invariably burnt or buried.
Putting tons of plastic through the black box of our recycling system remains insufficient.
Notpla is one of the most interesting material science companies around. Many observers believe it is better placed than most to do something radical as a single use plastic alternative and take a bite out of the $260bn spent each year on packaging. It is offering completely biodegradable seaweed-based wrappers, sachets, takeaway boxes and much else.
L’Intendance meanwhile is a French firm which started life as an eco webshop, selling products with reusable packaging. It has flipped to become a b2b venture, serving retail brands with reusable glass bottles and jars; collecting, cleaning and returning them from supermarkets and grocers.
Plastic’s tricks
Both companies operate in an unregulated sector bedevilled by slippery greenwashing tactics.
Notpla is particularly exposed to competitors who appear to offer recyclable materials but close inspection reveals either plastic under the surface of a biodegradable layer, or a plastic coating above a naturally decomposing base.
But this race towards sounds-legit-enough has damaging consequences.
Greenwashing efforts orchestrated by the formidably tentacled plastics industry and its lobbying clout impede progress. They prey on how bewildered most people are when faced with a barrage of information, says Notpla cofounder Pierre Paslier:
“People cut corners and the whole market ends up suffering. It erodes trust.”
It means money goes into into finding loopholes and marketing, instead of R&D to create new materials and systems which could make a genuine impact.
Changes to the law is the big hope.
A spate of new rules around the use of plastic packaging have emerged in France over the last few years. Rules are linked to targets the country is working towards which will become steeper over time. One of the goals is the elimination of all single-use plastic packaging in France by 2040.
By next year five per cent of all packaging has to be reusable. It will extend to 10 per cent by 2027.
The onus is now on industry as opposed to citizens. By 1 January 2030 French corporations selling more than 10,000 units per year and making over €10m will face fines if they can’t prove their waste is entering a recycling scheme.
Other countries are likely to be keeping a close eye on the French example with a view to adopting these policies.
Intendance founder Meryam Benmaouz says the French government’s effort is accelerating change.
“The politics is following where the consumer is. We are a point where 88% of consumers want reusable containers. Our job is to move the industry to support this.”
Material science: Notpla
It’s nearing 10 years since Notpla’s founders first started experimenting with materials which disappear without a trace. Some dissolve, some can even be eaten.
Notpla has committed itself to seaweed: a naturally occurring material with the potential to replace single use plastic. Abundant, requires no forests to be razed or water to farm (obviously) and grows like the clappers.
Don’t we need seaweed to stay where it is to absorb carbon? Paslier claims carbon is already sequestered before it is harvested.
JustEat has been Notpla’s biggest client for four years, supplying the delivery company with takeaway boxes made of seaweed.
Notpla’s growth to date has been powered by over £16m in funding; most recently £10m in December 2021. Among its backers is Lupa Systems, the investment vehicle belonging to Kendall Roy James Murdoch and his wife Kathryn.
Notpla is now looking for £30m.
The plan is to sign up more food companies, scale up as big as possible and become profitable along the way.
Having used the wobbly jelly-like bits of seaweed, Paslier is sizing up the potential of the fibrous remains to make paper without felling any trees. Also on the agenda are seaweed-based protective films, cutlery and even clothes hangars.
Retail logistics: Intendance
The consumer roots of Intendance are evident in the branding, tone and emphasis on making things as simple and clear as possible. But can returning packaging ever be anything other than a massive hassle?
Benmaouz is confident, saying smartphones, data, scale and being a one-stop-shop are critical to reach a flywheel effect. The former VC envisions a slick and tech-driven logistical platform inspired by the likes of Deliveroo and Uber.
“Money doesn’t really help people commit. They want convenience: one place where they can bring everything back.”
For brands and retailers she is promising live data and tracking and a simple solution as French laws around reusable packaging emerge.
She is looking for €1m which will go towards tech and sales people as she aims for 100 new brands to use the service.
I’d love to hear what you think of Intendance and Notpla. Reply to this email to get in touch with your thoughts of companies and themes I should be looking at.
Thanks, Soheb.