When Pierre Paslier first started experimenting with packaging alternatives, he wasn’t in a lab or an industrial facility—he was in his kitchen. With his co-founder Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez, the two of them began playing with natural materials that could mimic plastic without its harmful environmental consequences.

Their inspiration? The skin of fruit. Pierre and Rodrigo wanted to create packaging that functioned more like nature—something that could protect and contain, but ultimately disappear without a trace. This desire to replace plastic with a truly biodegradable, edible alternative led to the creation of Notpla.

This strict adherence to non-toxic, food-grade materials would later define Notpla, the company they co-founded to develop seaweed-based alternatives to plastic packaging. But before winning the Earthshot Prize and partnering with global brands, Pierre’s journey started at the crossroads of design and engineering.

The making of an optimistic problem-solver

Pierre’s career began in a world seemingly at odds with his future ambitions: plastic packaging. As an engineer at L’Oréal, he worked on mass-producing shampoo bottles and cream jars. "I was making shampoo bottles and cream jars by the tens of millions," he recalls. It was a valuable education in manufacturing and scale, but it lacked a sense of purpose.

Realizing that he wanted to be on the other side of the problem, Pierre left his corporate job and pursued a master’s at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. There, he explored the intersection of design and technology, co-developing one of the first consumer Delta 3D printers before shifting his focus to sustainability.

Together with Rodrigo, an architect by training, Pierre co-founded Notpla to tackle one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time: plastic waste.

*Pierre and Rodrigo, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Notpla Credit: Notpla*

A kitchen experiment that went viral

Their first breakthrough was Ooho!, an edible water pod made from seaweed, inspired by the spherification process used to create fake caviar. "We wanted to create something that feels more like a fruit than an industrial container," Pierre explains. The result was a biodegradable and even edible water capsule that quickly captured the imagination of the internet.

“We actually decided to license this as Creative Commons," Pierre says. "We made a little video that explains how to make it at home, and embracing open innovation made it super easy for other people to replicate it.” That video went viral, leading to millions of views and media coverage worldwide. The enthusiasm validated their idea, but Notpla needed more than virality to become a viable business.

Ooho! found an ideal use case in marathons, where thousands of plastic bottles are discarded after just a few sips of water. Instead of creating waste, runners could grab a small, edible water pod and hydrate on the go without littering. "It’s a bit like a cherry tomato—you just pop it in your mouth and there’s nothing left behind," Pierre describes.

This simple yet revolutionary concept helped Notpla break into the world of sustainable sports events and showcase a tangible way to eliminate single-use plastic.

From crowdfunding to global partnerships

Notpla's first funding didn’t come from traditional investors. "After a year and a half of failing to raise from anyone, we decided to go for equity crowdfunding," Pierre admits. It was a bold move, but within three days, they raised $1 million from 900 backers. That early momentum helped attract institutional investors, and in 2022, Notpla secured a $25 million Series A round to scale its production.

Winning the prestigious Earthshot Prize in 2022 was a pivotal moment for Notpla. Created by Prince William to support innovative environmental solutions, the prize recognized Notpla’s potential to eliminate plastic waste at scale.

"The Prince has visited our lab multiple times, and he’s genuinely invested in making sustainable solutions mainstream," Pierre shares. The prize not only came with a £1 million award but also put Notpla on the global stage, attracting partners eager to integrate their seaweed-based packaging into their supply chains.

Since then, Notpla has formed strategic partnerships with brands like Just Eat and major sports stadiums in Europe. Their seaweed-based coating for food containers has already replaced 18 million single-use plastic items.

Scaling sustainability: Challenges and onnovations

Working with seaweed as a raw material comes with unique challenges. Unlike synthetic plastic, seaweed has natural variations that change from season to season. To scale their production efficiently, Notpla made a crucial decision: instead of building entirely new manufacturing processes, they adapted their materials to work on existing plastic production lines.

"Unless you make things in hundreds of millions of units, you’ll never be able to compete on price," Pierre explains. "So we started working with existing factories. That allowed us to reduce costs by 30% year over year."

Another key part of Notpla’s success is how they collaborate with brands. Instead of a traditional supplier relationship, Notpla co-develops packaging solutions with its partners, allowing them to iterate quickly and develop products that meet both performance and sustainability needs. This approach, facilitated by their in-house Futures Lab, creates an agile development process where companies actively engage in testing and refining materials. "By working closely with our partners, we’re able to move much faster than the typical supplier pipeline," Pierre explains. "It’s about solving problems together rather than just selling a product."

A different kind of storytelling

Notpla’s impact isn’t just in its material innovation; it’s also in how they tell their story. Their visuals and branding stand out, blending sustainability with an aspirational lifestyle. "We don’t really spend money on external agencies. We do everything in-house," Pierre says. "It’s about making the story personal and relatable. People are looking for good news stories, and if you create something promising, they want to talk about it."

One of their most delightful marketing moments came when actor Hannah Waddingham, known for her role in Ted Lasso, hosted a documentary for the BBC, sharing the challenges of traditional plastic and how Notpla is changing the game. Moments like these help turn sustainability into something exciting rather than just another corporate responsibility effort.

What’s Next? Bringing Notpla to more venues

Now, Notpla is setting its sights on the U.S. market. Their seaweed-based food containers are already being used in NBA stadiums, and they’re looking to expand into corporate and university campuses.

Pierre encourages anyone passionate about sustainability to advocate for plastic-free solutions in their workplaces, universities, and favorite restaurants. "If you can find out who is running the catering in your corporate canteen or campus and ask for plastic-free options, that’s the perfect way to introduce Notpla," he says.

With a combination of engineering ingenuity, design thinking, and strategic partnerships, Notpla is proving that sustainable packaging isn’t just a possibility—it’s inevitable. "This shift is inevitable," Pierre emphasizes. "We need to transition to sustainable packaging. Yes or yes."

And with Notpla, that transition is looking a lot more like nature intended.

How a designer-engineer is reimagining packaging with Notpla