Notpla Magazine

From bespoke print to completely new packaging formats, there’s a lot that goes into creating the right packaging for a customer. At Notpla, much of that work sits with product designers Tom and August. They’ve spent seven and eight years at Notpla respectively and have worked on the foodservice packaging project almost since its conception, helping take seaweed-coated board from its earliest development through to packaging now being produced and used at scale.

For more than a decade, the story of materials has been sold as a fight. Plastic against paper. Fossil polymers against bio-based upstarts. One winner, one loser. It makes for a clean headline. It bears almost no resemblance to how the industry actually works.

When you're serving thousands of meals in just a few hours, packaging has to do more than support sustainability goals. It needs to perform under pressure, fit seamlessly into existing operations and deliver the experience customers expect.

The best ice cream experiences are remembered long after the final spoonful. Today's customers notice every detail, the flavour, the presentation, the atmosphere and even the spoon they take their first bite with. For premium ice cream brands, the serving experience has become just as important as the product itself.

Great ice cream isn't judged by the scoop alone. Today's customers notice every detail of the experience, from the flavour and presentation to the cup they're handed and the spoon they eat with. For premium ice cream brands, packaging is no longer an afterthought. It's part of the product itself.

Last week, we joined governments, scientists, seaweed farmers, researchers and policymakers in Geneva for the first annual meeting of the United Nations Global Seaweed Initiative (UNGSI). The meeting marked an important milestone for the seaweed sector.

For years, packaging decisions have largely been driven by cost, performance and availability. Increasingly, they're being shaped by something else: regulation.

Every July, Plastic-Free July encourages millions of people to rethink their reliance on single-use plastic.It's a conversation that's helped change habits around the world. Reusable coffee cups, refillable water bottles and refusing unnecessary plastic have all become familiar parts of the month.For foodservice businesses, that conversation has evolved.

Last week, we hosted our first-ever Swap with Notpla webinar, bringing together sustainability leaders, foodservice operators and packaging experts to discuss the questions rapidly changing the future of food packaging: What if the most important conversation about packaging isn't waste, but human health?