Replenishing life at every step of the supply chain.
Sway uses the principles of the circular economy to design not only our products, but our entire supply chain to restore social and natural systems harmed by climate change and pollution.
OUR PROCESS IS LED BY REGENERATION
Regeneration goes beyond the call for sustainability, encouraging us to design not simply to avoid harm, but to restore and replenish our aching planet.
While traditional plastics contribute to climate change at every step of their toxic existence, Sway materials are made with process in mind. We strive to undo the harms of plastic pollution everywhere, from the ocean to your backyard.
Sourcing Strategy
Rather than viewing the ocean as a victim, we believe solutions for some of our biggest climate challenges have been underwater all along. Our sourcing impact is reflected through 3 primary categories:
Cultivation Methods
Sway sources responsibly cultivated, ocean-farmed seaweed grown in harmony with the ocean. We make a couple exceptions for certain types of seaweed, like sargassum – an invasive equatorial species that Sway is exploring as an underutilized resource through the Puerto Rico Studio project. We require all prospective suppliers to report data including certifications, ecosystem impacts over time, processing footprint, and much more.
Global & Regional Diversity
Sway uses a diverse set of red and brown seaweeds from around the world as the base of our packaging technology. Seaweed is naturally rich in polymers (agar, alginate, and carrageenan), all of which Sway is exploring in our formulations. With diversity as a top priority, we help support the positive impacts of expanded seaweed cultivation while avoiding over-reliance on any one region or species.
Coastal Community Impact
Sway works exclusively with suppliers who provide dignified employment to farmers, meaning fair wages and good treatment. We are hard at work to support and help scale up suppliers for whom impact is the number one priority, such as supporting the transition to climate-resilient coastal economies with lobster fishermen in Maine, Indigenous communities in Brazil and Chile, and tourism-reliant communities in the Caribbean. And that’s just the beginning!
Partner Farms
Sway sources seaweed around the world, from commercial suppliers to small-scale farmers in emerging blue economy zones. Meet a few of our fantastic partners, each of which exemplifies the great diversity of social and environmental impacts seaweed can make.
Impact Ecosystem
Sway works in tandem with on-the-ground impact partners to ensure that as our product scales, so does our impact.
Seaweed FAQ
This marine crop thrives off sunlight and sea water, requiring low to no inputs – unlike terrestrial crops farmed through systems of conventional agriculture. It’s abundant, fast-growing, space-efficient, and available on nearly every coastline in the world. Seaweed can also generate regenerative impact as it grows, giving back to its ecosystem: increasing habitat for marine life, boosting biodiversity, and mitigating climate change impacts like ocean acidification and erosion. Plus, new science is proving that seaweed farming can sequester substantial amounts of carbon!
We are excited to see these positive impacts taking place in real-time through Sway’s seaweed sourcing partners, like Atlantic Sea Farms, who offer kelp farming opportunities to local fishing communities as a way to diversify incomes, adapt to climate change, and continue working at sea sustainably.
Thanks to increased demand, annual seaweed cultivation has increased to over 35 million metric tons worldwide – more than doubling in the last decade!
