Impact

Together, we can usher in a new age of materials.

Learn how Sway is creating tangible, lasting change for the future of everyday materials – one which creates reciprocity between business and our shared planet.

APPROACH

Our Guiding Principles

Progress over perfection

If it was easy, it would have been done already. We won’t let our vision of a perfect future impede on better solutions now. Every step forward brings us closer to our ultimate goal of mainstreaming materials that replenish the planet.

Collaborate, don't isolate

We operate in community, rather than making assumptions in silos. We listen to expert wisdom — scientists and legacy industry — to understand what makes solutions work. Embedding collaboration from the beginning increases likelihood of success.

No silver bullet

We need an ecosystem of solutions to tackle our world’s plastic problem. A rising tide lifts all boats — every step away from traditional plastic builds momentum for systemic change, paving the way for others to follow.

THE PROBLEM

Plastic is ubiquitous.

160,000 plastic bags are produced every second. That's 5 trillion bags every year, enough to circle the planet 7 times. Only 2% are recycled, while the rest persist forever in landfills, nature, and our bodies. The average American ingests up to 12 shopping bags worth of toxic plastic particles annually.

While we should eliminate packaging wherever possible, its protective and hygienic benefits remain essential in our globalized world.

We believe in a hierarchy of solutions to solve the plastic crisis. No packaging is the best packaging. Paper and reusables come next. Sway strives to fill the niche where flexible, lightweight, single-use materials are necessary.

Our Solution

Sway is leveraging seaweed — the most abundant, fast-growing ocean resource — as the base in our growing portfolio of compostable solutions for hard-to-recycle, single-use plastics.

90+

seaweed farms supported

100+

acres biodiversity supported

2.6M

lbs seaweed sourced to-date

105k

lbs C removed from environment through seaweed sourced

10.8k

lbs N removed from environment through seaweed sourced

618

lbs P removed from environment through seaweed sourced

30+

countries represented as suppliers

1.4B

plastic bags replaced by 2030

5T

plastic bags to replace annually

Creating value, from sea to soil

We use the principles of the circular economy to design our products and supply chain alike, striving to restore social and ecological systems harmed by the impacts of plastic and pollution.

Ocean Health

Seaweed farms promote ocean health in a number of ways, including reversing acidification, cycling nutrients, and encouraging biodiversity.

Climate + Carbon

Regenerative seaweed farming requires no fresh water, feed, or fertilizer – fueled simply by sun and ocean nutrients. New science is proving that seaweed farming sequesters carbon at rates comparable to ecosystems like mangroves and seagrasses.

Livelihoods

Our materials uplift the blue economy, green manufacturing, and healthy communities. Seaweed aquaculture offers climate-resilient economic opportunities in coastal communities threatened by climate change and overfishing, from Alaska to Indonesia and all around the world. Sway materials plug into globally scaled manufacturing, inviting legacy industry to adopt biomaterials with ease.

Waste + Pollution

While traditional plastics pollute for centuries, Sway materials are designed to return to the earth. Less toxins, less garbage, and a cleaner world.

Compost + Healthy Soil

Tested, trusted, and approved by composters, Sway materials are certified (or actively being certified) as compostable, breaking down with the help of heat, moisture, and microbes in both home and industrial compost. Our technology enables true biological circularity – a system nature invented eons ago!

WHY SEAWEED?

Seaweed replenishes the planet.

Imagine our oceans brimming with life, rather than pollution. At Sway, we see an incredible opportunity to treat the ocean as the hero of a new material future.

Seaweed is a renewable marine crop plentiful in natural polymers, the building blocks of Sway’s material portfolio. When compared to common renewable packaging inputs like corn, potato, or sugarcane, the benefits of seaweed go above and beyond. Seaweed thrives off sunlight and sea water, requiring little to no inputs. It’s abundant, fast-growing, space-efficient, and available on nearly every coastline in the world.

Plus, seaweed creates regenerative impact (giving back more than it takes) as it grows: increasing habitat for marine life, boosting biodiversity, and mitigating climate change impacts like ocean acidification and erosion. New science is proving that seaweed farming can also sequester substantial amounts of carbon.

By using seaweed as a key ingredient across Sway's material portfolio, we can scale its regenerative impact in tandem with our products.

Sway CEO & Co-founder Julia shares how seaweed became the foundation of our technology portfolio. Short film by Imagine5.

Explore the Science

RESEARCH GATE

Biodiversity within seaweed farms match levels within kelp forests

READ STUDY

NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE

Carbon burial in sediments below seaweed farms matches that of blue carbon habitats

READ STUDY

WORLD BANK

Seaweed aquaculture for economic development and reducing poverty

READ REPORT

Seaweed FAQ

What kind of seaweed does Sway use?

Core to our sustainability strategy, Sway works with responsibly farmed macroalgae and extracts. We prioritize diversification in our sourcing to avoid over-reliance on any one region or species, and support the positive impacts of expanded seaweed cultivation around the globe! Our team is also actively exploring the use of invasive species that are harvested from shorelines, turning “waste” into a valuable resource.

Does Sway harvest the seaweed?

No. Sway sources from a trusted global network of seaweed suppliers that responsibly farm and harvest seaweed. Our sourcing partners located all around the world, including Indonesia, Chile, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Madagascar, and beyond! Seaweed grows abundantly on nearly every global coastline, and our team is committed to expanding and diversifying our sourcing strategy as we grow.

Is there enough seaweed in the world?

Seaweed cultivation is a well-established and rapidly growing industry, with 97% of seaweed used in industrial applications being farmed rather than wild-harvested. Beyond its obvious use in food, seaweed is used as a binding agent in everyday items like cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. There could be seaweed in your toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, donut glaze, and even the pill caps for your daily vitamins. Thanks to increased demand, annual seaweed cultivation has increased to over 35 million tons worldwide – more than doubling in the last decade!

Is seaweed the only ingredient in Sway materials?

No. While seaweed is a key feedstock across Sway's entire product portfolio, our formulations incorporate other renewable and/or certified home compostable ingredients. See individual product pages for details.

Our Seaweed Sourcing Ethos

Sway sources seaweed around the world, from commercial suppliers to small-scale farmers in emerging blue economy zones. While impact looks different with every supplier, depending on the regional context and cultivation methods, our comprehensive seaweed sourcing framework universally commits to:

1. Protect and enhance ecosystem services
2. Employ non-extractive, sustainable harvest techniques
3. Ensure zero introduction of plastic or synthetic substances into natural environments
4. Support cultivation in open, integrated ecosystems
5. Preserve critical habitat integrity
6. Prioritize farmer welfare

Here are a few examples of the great diversity of social and environmental impacts seaweed can make:

Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture (IMTA)

This approach combines different aquatic species that occupy various trophic levels within the same system. Typically, seaweed is grown alongside fish and shellfish, improving efficiency and reducing resource use. Unlike traditional monoculture aquaculture, IMTA creates a mini-ecosystem where the byproducts or waste from one species serve as nutrients for another.

Growing the American Bioeconomy

Kelp farming is a promising, flourishing industry on North American shores. On both West and East coasts, fishing communities and dedicated kelp growers are turning to seaweed aquaculture, which improves the local waters they rely on and offers ample market pathways in food, fertilizer, cosmetics, and, of course, biomaterials. Sourcing domestically whenever possible helps improve efficiency and carbon footprint of transporting raw materials.

Leveraging Waste Sargassum

Exacerbated by climate change and pollution, sargassum – an invasive species of brown seaweed – has been growing in excess in equatorial regions. As the largest macroalgae bloom in the world, this overgrowth is piling up on beaches, depleting tourism, and damaging local economies. But what if this excess “waste” is an untapped resource waiting to be transformed? Sway is actively exploring sargassum with partners like SOS Carbon, who operate In Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.

Learn more about our work exploring sargassum in the Puerto Rico Studio. Short film by Newlab.

We design for legacy industry.

A solution is only as good as how seamlessly it can be adopted. Our technology is designed to fit the systems that already exist, enabling compatibility with globally scaled plastic manufacturing infrastructure.

In this way, Sway invites legacy industry to adopt plastic replacements with ease. Rather than being left behind, these material manufacturers become essential players in building a biobased future.

How It Works

STEP #1: FORMULATION

Sway is an ingredient brand. At our lab in the San Francisco Bay Area, we develop breakthrough formulations through continuous prototyping, rigorous testing, and lab-scale production trials. Our team is constantly innovating!

STEP #2: MANUFACTURING

We partner with established domestic manufacturers who utilize standard plastic processing equipment. These partners compound and extrude our biobased formulations into high-performance pellets and flexible films.

STEP #3: DISTRIBUTION

Our network of packaging manufacturers and distributors transform our finished materials into packaging for brands across industries — from fashion and sports, to cosmetics and personal care, and beyond. We're just getting started!

WHY COMPOST?

Composting closes the biological loop.

Composting diverts waste from landfill and supports healthy soil systems by repurposing nutrients into new life. Sway designs our technology for 100% compostability, meaning that our products can be composted in both home and industrial facilities.

Our team works in tandem with composters, coalitions, and communities to help facilitate the mass adoption of composting, with the goal of making it an accessible and mainstream practice.

We envision a future where consumption can actually feed into a cycle of biological circularity – a system nature invented eons ago.

Composting Resources

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Compost FAQ

What's the difference between home and industrial composting?

Industrially compostable materials are certified by third parties to break down within 3 months in composting facilities (high heat, moisture, microbes).

Home compostable materials are certified to break down within 6 months in healthy home compost. This is similar to the above, but special because less extreme conditions are needed and it’s an accessible practice to folks without industrial composting services offered by their municipality.

For more, watch this quick explainer or head to our Science Library!

What do Sway materials compost into?

Per TUV Austria certification standards, our materials compost safely into carbon dioxide, water, inorganic compounds, and biomass. No microplastics, distinguishable remnants, or toxic residues behind.

Early testing has even shown small amounts of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium – the 3 main nutrients plants need to grow!

Are Sway materials tested and certified compostable?

Yes! Sway designs for home and industrial compostability, certifying our products through the global gold-standard certification, TUV Austria.

Formal certification is a time and resource intensive process, which Sway only pursues when our formulations are market-ready, which is why you may see some products labeled as "certification pending."

However, along our product development journey, Sway materials undergo rigorous testing via in-house methods, third party labs, and field composting partners (like Cold Creek Compost) to ensure full breakdown within <180 days (home compost standard) and <90 days (industrial compost standard). This gives us high confidence our materials will pass certification with flying colors!

What if I don't compost?

Municipal offerings, farm programs, or private services are often available locally. Or, for those who would like to try home composting, here is a great guide to get started!

We understand that convenient access to composting services is key for compostable materials to succeed, which is why we work closely with the industry.

Will it break down in any environment?

Sway’s packaging is specifically designed for composting, where it can fully break down with the necessary heat, moisture, and microbial activity.

Recognizing that materials don’t always end up in ideal composting conditions, Sway is in the process of testing performance in additional environments, including landfill (ASTM D5511 and D5526), marine (ASTM D6691), and soil (ISO 17556 and ASTM D5988).

While composting is the most effective disposal method to ensure breakdown, Sway is committed to responsibly understanding how our materials behave across various environments.

What about recycling?

While Sway's current products are not yet recyclable, we are innovating in that direction!

To solve our world’s waste problem, we most importantly need to vastly reduce our consumption and minimize material usage. From there, we must employ a multitude of solutions: reuse, refill, repair, share, recycle, and regenerate. Here’s are the quick facts:

1. Plastic is being produced at an alarming rate. Plastics production has reached a whopping 400 million metric tonnes globally each year.

2. More plastic = more petroleum. If trends in oil consumption and plastics production continue as expected, plastics will account for 20% of total oil consumption by 2050. We must shift our reliance toward renewable resources, which can be grown again and again.

3. Plastic recycling can’t keep up with the volume of plastic on Earth. Less than 10% of all global plastics produced have been recycled, with most accumulating in landfills or flowing into nature. Only 1% of plastic bags are recycled, with the vast majority of thin film plastics rejected by curbside recycling programs. When thin-film plastic does end up in recycling centers, it’s difficult to sort and clogs machines.

4. Compostable packaging solves these issues, while enabling biological circularity. In-line with the circular economy principles as defined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, compostable materials can prevent waste, circulate materials, and regenerate nature. That means less petroleum, toxins, and pollution, while creating value at every step!

Impact Ecosystem

Sway works in tandem with partners across industry and innovation to maximize the impact of our products at every step of the value chain, from formulation to decomposition.