Fionnuala I. Quin
Kelpy Australia Pty Ltd, Jervis Bay NSW, Australia
Correspondence: Fionnuala Quin, Fionnuala@kelpy.co
Seaweed Biopolymer applications are on the rise as demand for sustainable materials increases. Meanwhile, climate-affected coastal communities in developing nations are faced with a new opportunity and a rapidly closing window to meet this growing demand while securing a fair share of the uplift. With declining fish stocks and marine habitats leaving fishermen without income in many nations, a significant pattern is emerging with women taking up seaweed farming. As the new breadwinners, female farmers are accounting for social uplift for their local communities with renewed investment in housing and education.
Rapid scale up of seaweed cultivation and access to fair trade will be essential to securing the benefits of this rapidly emerging market. Kelpy has developed two world first seaweed packaging innovations to replace single use plastics. 100% bio-derived, seaweed biopellets and granules designed for manufacture on standard plastics manufacturing equipment. Both the flexible film and rigid – injection mouldable packaging solutions have zero plastic and are home compostable. This is a truly circular product with sea to soil benefits. Yet, it’s not enough. Our solution must be one of multiple product streams derived from biomass yields. Our team and partners are navigating fractionated models to include the extraction of higher value ingredients for food, cosmetics, biomedical, livestock supplements and biostimulants from the same biomass supply that we process into Kelpy pellets and granules. Offsetting these higher and lower value uses, coupled with Fair Trade Agreements will ensure the greatest outcomes for the farmers at the coalface of climate change.