Biopac: Seaweed-based packaging to deliver climate solution for land and marine ecosystem.

Throughout the year 2023, there were 4,938 climate-related disasters in Indonesia, resulting in 265 deaths, 33 missed, 5,783 injured, and 8.85 million people losing their homes. In September 2023, we had to have extremely hot weather that triggered uncomfortable life, including tiredness, dehydration, difficulty breathing, and vulnerability to asthma. One of the main contributors to climate-related disasters is CO2 emissions. Tech-based products from Industry 3.0 emit CO2, including single-use plastic production and waste management. As reported by Breaking the Plastic Wave, the main contributors to plastic leakage in the oceans are upper- and lower-middle-income countries (https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets/2020/07/breakingtheplasticwave_report.pdf). The awareness in those countries about plastic waste pollution seems to be lower than it should be. The government still allows plastic waste imports from high-income countries, and the plastic waste from local sources is still mismanaged. Business sectors that use single-use plastic have not yet considered the adverse effects of plastic waste, so the determining factors in choosing the product packaging are packaging cost and design for the marketing gimmick. It is estimated that more than 400 million metric tons of plastic waste are generated per year, and that number is estimated to be tripled by 2060. From that amount, at least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments. Indonesia ranked fifth as the most plastic waste-polluting country (World Population Review 2022 and the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics, 2021). Among all Indonesian citizens, 60 thousand seaweed farmers in Indonesia are more climate-vulnerable because of some factors. First, seaweed productivity declines in extreme weather. Second, they live near the seashore and are vulnerable to tidal floods and tsunamis. Third, if a climate-related disaster occurs, the seaweed farmers have the least capability to solve it and rebound.

Seaweed is well known as an effective CO2 sequestering agent (https://www.unep.org/resources/report/seaweed-farming-assessment-sustainable-upscaling), and luckily, Indonesia is an archipelagic country with an area of 8.3 million sq km, including 6.4 million sq km of seawater, and a coastline length of 108,000 km, making it strategic to tackle GHG emissions through seaweed cultivation (https://www.bps.go.id/id/publication/2022/08/29/269de33babc6e3d52bbae5b6/hasil-survei-komoditas-perikanan-potensi-rumput-laut-2021-seri-2.html). Currently, Indonesia is the second-largest seaweed-producing country in the world. We utilize seaweed to produce bioplastic as wraps, rolls (https://youtu.be/CyDSnztOXk0), sachets (https://youtu.be/1HM4gK01kmw

), gussets, vacuum bags, shopping bags, and ink (). These bioplastics are manufactured from seaweeds using sustainable practices. Our process uses less water, energy, and no hazardous chemicals, resulting in less CO2 emissions during production and a highly competitive unit price for the products. Our product is intended to replace plastic-containing packaging, both single-layer and laminate, whose production and waste management emit CO2. By replacing 1 ton of PE-based flexible packaging, we could stop the emission of 6 tons of CO2 during PE production and waste management. To replace that amount of packaging, we use 3 tons of seaweed, which sequesters almost 5.4 tons of CO2 during cultivation. So, the total carbon capture involved in our business is almost 11.4 tons. At the same time, we create a new market opportunity for seaweed and increase the farmers' income sustainably.

In the upstream, while we provide our solution to improve the livelihoods of 60 thousand Indonesian seaweed farmers sustainably and set them free from human trafficking, the farmers actively maintain seashore cleanliness to provide the optimum conditions for seaweed growth. During growth, seaweed sequesters GHG for its photosynthesis; thus, it reduces ocean acidity and maintains ocean productivity. Our plastic-free practices in seaweed farming will also improve the global market acceptance of Indonesian seaweed so that the supply-demand balance of seaweed can be improved.

In the downstream, we provide our product in nonpremium packaging to reach out to all business sectors that need single-use plastic, especially food, personal care, retail, and hospitality. Currently, we have 170 B2B customers, both local and overseas. We also create full-time jobs in our factory for young people in urban areas who have no college certificate, so they cannot apply for jobs in corporate companies.

We are a woman-led social enterprise with three shareholders. Equipped with her education background in chemistry and food science, our director and CEO, Dr. Noryawati Mulyono, S.Si., has done persistent bioplastic innovation since 2010, when she worked as a lecturer at Atma Jaya Catholic University and won L’Oreal for Women in Science with a research topic about biodegradable packaging (https://biz.kompas.com/read/2010/11/25/11050367/~Edukasi~News). Her commitment to bioplastics is proven by her endless effort, time, and willingness to bootstrap since 2016. She has five patents on bioplastics and the manufacturing technology thereof. She has considered the feasibility and impacts of the business since the first step of her research in 2010. Her commitment to eradicating poverty among seaweed farmers and improving their livelihoods has led her to choose seaweed as a bioplastic raw material since 2012.

She had to pass the rough path in May–October 2019 after she collaborated with Evoware and won the Open Ideo Circular Design Challenge in 2017 (https://www.openideo.com/case-studies/plastic-waste-solutions-in-circular-design-challenge). However, it could not extinguish her commitment to provide seaweed-based packaging; therefore, she rebuilt a new social enterprise in November 2019 and launched the Biopac brand in March 2020.

Our CTO, Dr. Asaf Kleopas Sugih, Chem. Eng, is a chemical engineer (S1-S3) with expertise in seaweed processing factory layout and bioplastic engineering. He is responsible for scaling up our production process to a commercial scale with green and cost-efficient technology by implementing a robotic system. Our chairwoman, Ir. Indrawati Mulyono, is an industrial engineer with experience optimizing raw material usage in FMCG, garment, and craft industries. She is responsible for optimizing Biopac production efficiency and reducing processing costs. We have a business development advisor with experience advocating community empowerment and auditing. Specifically, she knows the livelihood of seaweed farmers, and she believes that Biopac is the strategic vehicle to improve it sustainably. We also have some accelerators, namely Earth Company (https://www.earthcompany.info/), Inotek (https://inotek.org/en/about-us/), and Tembusu Asia Consulting (https://www.tembusuasia.com/), who nurture our growth. We do outsourcing for social media management, patent attorney, and tax consultant.

We launched Biopac seaweed-based packaging in March 2020 and welcome all business sectors that need single-use plastic for their product packaging. We have made traction in the food, personal care, and retail sectors for the market in the United Kingdom, Japan, and the local market. Lush cosmetics (https://www.lush.com/us/en_us) and Camani aromatherapy (https://www.camanihome.com/) are examples of our direct users, while Nusantara (https://nusantara.handcrafted.jp/blog/2023/01/23/143138) and Evoware (https://rethink-plastic.com/home/product/seaweed-based-packaging) are examples of our resellers.

MIT is the trendsetter for world-class technopreneurs. Biopac should use the technology along the business process, from the ocean to the end users, to make the whole process cost-efficient and the goal achievable. We have already used robotic systems for some parts of our production process. We have also been supported by USASCP since 2022 through the Business Innovation Fund. We believe this challenge is a great opportunity to fine-tune our business model, bring our solution to the global spotlight, enter the climate-concern ecosystem, and build marketing partnerships with credible and impact-oriented distributors to deliver our solution globally.

Our innovative solution kills two birds with one stone. We address the climate crisis and plastic waste pollution by replacing single-use plastic, whose production and waste management emit CO2, with seaweed-based biopackaging. While conventional plastics pollute soil and the ocean, Biopac® still has value at the end of its life as a soil biofertilizer and safe food for marine and terrestrial animals. Biopac catalyzes broader positive impacts from others through some strategies. First, we provide our real solution not only on the website but also in the market; our product could be ordered in retail or bulk. Second, we use seaweed instead of terrestrial plants so that we do not require land for cultivation and eliminate the deforestation threat associated with cassava-based bioplastics. Seaweed also does not need pesticides, fertilizer, and irrigation during growth. We advocate for sustainable ocean farming methods and reduce dependence on land-based crops and fossil fuels to produce versatile packaging options for businesses and consumers, making the transition to sustainable practices accessible. Third, we use seaweed instead of seaweed flour, whose processing involves hazardous chemicals and results in hazardous wastewater and sludge (http://ejournal-balitbang.kkp.... Jakarta&country=ID). The important features that differentiate seaweed-based bioplastic from seaweed flour-based bioplastic are transparency and price. The former is translucent and cheaper, but the latter is transparent and more expensive. Our production process requires no hazardous chemicals, is cost-, energy-, and water-efficient, and results in fewer CO2 emissions during production. As a pioneer in seaweed-based bioplastic development and manufacturing, we have five patents on seaweed-based products and packaging. We empower seaweed farmers to farm and produce high-quality seaweed through sustainable practices, which include removing the use of disposable water bottles as buoys and plastic bags to pack the seaweed. In addition, Biopac stands out by offering seaweed-based ink for logo and product information printing, providing a complete eco-friendly solution. Overall, Biopac's unique advantages and ethical production practices make it a standout player in the seaweed-based packaging market.

Activities: empower seaweed farmers to farm the seaweed through plastic-free practices and pack it in jute bags; source the seaweed from the seaweed farmers cooperative; manufacture Biopac® to replace conventional plastic; market and distribute our products worldwide.

Outputs: Biopac® seaweed-based packaging and ink

Outcomes:

1. Plastic waste pollution is reduced.
2. The income of seaweed farmers has increased.
3. Fossil fuel usage as a raw material for nondegradable plastic is reduced.
4. The severity of the climate crisis has been reduced.

Overall goal: a sustainable lifestyle with responsible production and consumption, characterized by minimizing plastic waste pollution.

Our environmental impact goals are reducing plastic waste pollution and sequestering CO2. We measure the total plastic waste reduction from our product sales that is intended to replace nondegradable plastic. The total CO2 sequestration is the sum of CO2 sequestration by seaweed during cultivation and the avoidance of CO2 emissions by replacing non-degradable plastic with our product. The former is calculated based on a scientific paper and stoichiometric mass balance. The latter is calculated from the CO2 emissions of PE during production and waste management, with the assumption that the waste ends up in the incinerator and landfill. These goals are aligned to SDG pillars 13, 14, and 15. Our social impact goal is to improve seaweed farmers’ and urban society's livelihoods. We measure our impacts using some essential parameters in the life quality index, such as annual income and its sustainability, educational background, and health status. We collect the data of seaweed farmers from the cooperative and do interviews with some random farmers who supply their seaweed to us. We collect the data from our employees through interviews and home visits to meet their family members. This impact goal is aligned with SDG pillars 1–3. In Indonesia, women have important roles in seaweed farming, sorting and preparing seaweed seedlings, drying and packing the harvested seaweed, and managing the cash flow. This activity is aligned with SDG pillar 5.

We have designed and used a robotic system to make the continuous sheet. It is not a fancy robot, but it functions to do the automatic sheeting process with adjustable width, length, and thickness of the sheet. We want to expand our robotic process in the sealing step so that one operator can supervise three robots to operate three continuous sealing machines. In the upstream, we will leverage traditional practices with modern technology in farming the seaweed. We avoid using plastic bottles and design a robotic system to prepare the seedlings, monitor their growth, and harvest the seaweed simultaneously. The robot will help the farmers increase their productivity, save them time, ensure the quality of seaweed, and reduce the heavy manual work that may induce chronic lower back pain.

We have 6 people working full-time for production, 2 people working part-time to design and fine-tune the robot, and approximately 40 people from 4 other companies that provide their services to develop our website, register our patent in PCT and the United States, report the tax, and manage our social media accounts.

Both CEO and CTO started to develop bioplastic material and processing breakthroughs in 2010 (14 years ago) and 2007 (16 years ago, when he studied as a doctoral student at Chemical Engineering, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen), respectively. We established the Biopac company in November 2019 (4 years ago) and launched the Biopac brand in March 2020.

We have 40 people, from 19 to 49 years old, 20 female and 20 male, as our core and supporting team members, excluding the number of seaweed farmers. Our core team consists of production, material innovation, and processing innovation. Our supporting team members handle secondary tasks such as reporting taxes, updating websites, educating the public about the severity of plastic waste, soft selling through social media and marketing communication, and drafting and maintaining patents. The educational background of our team members varies from junior high school graduates to doctoral degrees. Though sourcing seaweed is important, we strive to empower the seaweed farmers through the cooperatives. We have three seaweed farmers’ cooperatives whose members are from the western to the eastern parts of Indonesia as our partners, so the farmers can come to the cooperatives anytime they need support, and the cooperative will convey the farmers’ requests to us. The cooperatives also represent us in ensuring the quality of the seaweed before shipping it to our warehouse. Currently, 17% of the seaweed farmer families never study at school, and 48% only graduated from elementary school, but it should improve if the farmer's income is improved.

We manufacture Biopac® sheets and ink and provide printing and sealing services to make sachets, gussets, pouches, and shopping bags. Biopac® is versatile and suitable for various sectors such as food, skincare, hair care, retail, hospitality, and more. Even more, Biopac® still has value as a biofertilizer at the end of its life. We distribute Biopac® worldwide in a B2B model.

As the inventor and pioneer of seaweed-based packaging development and manufacturing, we have five patents on seaweed-based products and packaging and excellent product knowledge. We are happy to provide technical sales support to support our customers. Biopac® is colorable, printable, free from harmful chemicals, animal-free, and affordable. It has a shelf life of up to two years when stored in an airtight container.

We equip our products with all related certificates, such as a Certificate of Conformity, a Food Packaging Certificate, and a Home Compostable Certificate. The first certificate is a confirmation that Biopac® has passed the test against 219 substances of very high concern. The second certificate is a requisite for food packaging. Biopac® has also passed thorough chemical and plant toxicity testing for over 1.5 years to ensure plant growth and got the third certificate. Our production process requires no hazardous chemicals, is cost-, energy-, and water-efficient, and results in fewer CO2 emissions during production and a highly competitive unit price for the products. We empower seaweed farmers to farm and produce high-quality seaweed through sustainable practices, which include removing the use of disposable water bottles as buoys and plastic bags to pack the seaweed. We have sold 4.5 tons of Biopac to replace conventional plastics and sequestered more than 33 tons of CO2 already. We see promising impact growth of 158–180% annually, though our revenue is still small. Totally, we have generated USD 76k from product sales.

We have an agile fundraising strategy that connects with some funding sources. First, we continue to apply for grants to support our mission of using seaweed as the default packaging material for various types of product applications. The grant is strategic to set up a pilot project for new products and apply for product certification. Second, we open manufacturing in contract collaboration with strategic partners. Third, we open investment opportunities for impact investors to multiply our production lines. We have proven that our funding strategies are successful in facilitating penetrating the market. When we launched Biopac® in March 2020, we sold Biopac® at USD 7.78 per square meter, and with the grant support, we scaled up and cut the selling price gradually to USD 1.42 per square meter this year.