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 use in food, seaweed acts as a common gelling ingredient 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 more than doubled in the last decade to over 35 million metric tons worldwide!

Home or industrial composting. All Sway materials are tested in-house, through third party labs, and with field testing partners. Formal certification is performed by TÜV Austria.

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 special because less extreme conditions are needed, making it a more accessible practice to folks without industrial composting services offered by their municipality.

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

Municipal offerings, farm programs, or private services are often available locally. Or, if you’d like to try home composting, here is a quick guide to get you 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. If you are working on expanding compostable infrastructure, get in touch — we'd love to connect!

For faster decomposition, cut your bag into smaller pieces!

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

Sway packaging is designed for compost, where it breaks down with heat, humidity, and microbes. Throwing it out in nature won't create the same decomposition – please don't litter!

STEP #1: FORMULATION
Think of Sway like an ingredient brand. At our San Francisco Bay Area HQ, 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 manufacturers who scale Sway production using standard plastic processing equipment. These partners compound and extrude our formulations into high-performance pellets and flexible films.

STEP #3: DISTRIBUTION
Our network of packaging partners convert and customize rolls of Sway film into finished packaging for brands across industries — from fashion and outdoors, to home goods and personal care, to tech and electronics, and beyond.

Nope! While we love pretty much everything about seaweed, our packaging is designed to keep the goods inside fresh, clean, and scent-free.

Sway materials are designed for microbes to eat, not humans. Nori is a much better option! 

Today’s plastic industry largely relies on resin: petroleum pellets that are melted and formed into finished products through global manufacturing systems.

To replace plastics at scale, Sway has formulated an entirely new category of biopolymer resin that we call Thermoplastic Seaweed, or TPSea™ for short. TPSea™ is a Certified 100% Biobased, majority seaweed pellet that can melt and flow wherever plastic goes. It can be combined with other compostable polymers to create a myriad of end products, such as our flexible films.

Flexible plastic film is under 10mil thick, typically made from polyethylene resin (LDPE or HDPE). Examples include shopping bags, polybags, bubble wrap, food wrappers, and cling wrap.

To replace plastics at scale, Sway has formulated two lines of flexible film: Firstwave™ and TPSea Flex™. View our products to learn how they are being used!

TPSea Flex™ is a majority biobased material created by blending Sway’s core technology TPSea™ (a certified 100% biobased pellet, made entirely from seaweed and plants) with non-renewable, certified home compostable polymers. It's the first seaweed-based flexible film to be produced at scale, thanks to our incredible scientists and manufacturing partners achieving the previously unthinkable!

While Sway's ultimate goal is a 100% biobased version of this film, the addition of home compostable polymers currently provides non-negotiable performance qualities that help our material run smoothly through industrial-scale equipment. Innovation takes time, and we are actively phasing down this non-renewable component with each iteration.

Until our material is “perfect,” we recognize TPSea Flex™ as a huge first step towards a future we can all get behind: less plastic, more plants, and a healthier planet.

Have more questions? Email team@swaythefuture.com — we welcome thoughtful dialogue on material innovation!

If you're a seaweed farmer or processor, we'd love to hear from you! Please share your information via our Supplier Inquiry Form and we'll circle back based on alignment with our sourcing needs.

We're thrilled to hear more manufacturers are gaining interest in producing biomaterials! Please submit details about your operations to our Manufacturer Interest Form and we'll circle back based on capacity and alignment.

Yes! Sway is expanding our distribution network. Please reach out via our Distributor Inquiry Form.

Our team is always open to new conversations with brands who have a clear vision and dedicated budget for packaging innovation. Please submit your interest to our Product Inquiry Form, and we'll circle back based on capacity and alignment!

We're so glad to hear you're interested in Sway materials for personal use! At this early stage in our company, we are currently focused on packaging for product companies. We aspire to create consumer products in the future — stay tuned!