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Bay Area startup looks to seaweed as a possible solution to plastic pollution
Plastic waste is a huge problem, with bags and packaging a major culprit. A Bay Area startup has figured out a way to replace these plastics, with a regenerative resource that grows abundantly off the coast. Watch our CBS feature here!
How one Bay Area startup wants to bring an innovative solution to the plastic bag problem
This year, Sway and four fashion brands will launch their first fully compostable seaweed-based “polybags” — the clear plastic packaging that protects new garments during delivery. Read here.
The World Wanted To Go Plastic-Free. So What Happened?
“This is a cultural movement that can be catalyzed by designers, packaging and procurement teams, policymakers, municipalities, and industrial composters to ensure these materials make their way to the right place after use,” says Julia Marsh, Sway Co-Founder and CEO. Read here.
Seaweed Takes Center Stage at Coast Summit 2024
Sway, Florence, and Lonely Whale joined a dynamic panel to discuss how radical collaboration has leveraged the seaweed movement — from catalyzing product scale, to expanding brand adoption, to increasing awareness through engaging media. Watch here.
Creating a New Sargassum Value Chain in Puerto Rico
Led by Newlab and Invest Puerto Rico, Sway's participation in the Puerto Rico Studio has validated the use of sargassum — an invasive, toxic species of seaweed — in bioplastics. Turning waste into value, we’re reimagining the future of sustainability. Watch now.
Seaweed Innovators Sway and Umaro Join Forces to Optimize Alginate for Sustainable Bioplastics
$1.5M in funding from the Department of Energy promises a two-for-one deal through a new project: biobased plastic and protein from a single regenerative resource. Read here.
Legacy Plastic Manufacturer Partners with Sway to Advance Seaweed-Based Biomaterials
At PackExpo, Charter Next Generation shares how they are using regenerative materials to guide the industry towards biobased packaging solutions. Watch now.
Outdoor brand Prana is rolling out 'innovative' seaweed-based compostable packaging that can replace conventional plastic
Performance apparel company Prana is going deeper to get even greener — literally — with a new product polybag made from a proprietary "innovative material" based on an abundant underwater resource: seaweed." Read here.
Sway scaling compostable seaweed-based polybags with fashion brands
The California-based material innovation startup says the next applications it’s eyeing include mailers and multilayer packaging. Read now.
The Cure for Disposable Plastic Crap Is Here—and It’s Loony
"If you add up all these unplastic developments, you'll find grounds for cautious optimism: We've got a path to a world less littered with deathless plastic waste." Read here.
Impact Report: Unwrap The Future
In 2020, Lonely Whale launched Unwrap The Future, a three-phrase, multi-year program with an ambitious mission: vet and scale rapidly biologically degradable alternatives to traditional thin-film plastic. Read the Impact Report.
Seaweed Helped to Protect This Burton Snowboard
Burton is focused on addressing the issue of single-use plastics, which has led them to begin a behind-the-scenes seaweed-based packaging pilot with Sway. Read here.
What if plastic could evolve to replenish the planet?
After a year of collaborating to scale seaweed packaging, Sway and Lonely Whale answer the question: What will it take to bring new biomaterials to market, and accelerate their adoption? Read here.
From Sea to Soil: Sway is Replenishing the Planet with Seaweed Packaging
From seaweed to shrimp shells, to mycelium and coffee grounds, Sway co-founder and CEO Julia Marsh presents the "what if?" of a regenerative material future with GreenBiz Circularity. Watch here.
Sci-Fi or Reality? Talking Tomorrow’s Climate Tech with the Aspen Ideas Festival
Five years after Sway was first publicly presented, our co-founder and CEO Julia Marsh returns to Aspen Ideas Festival to share how seaweed packaging is not only growing, but thriving. Watch here.
John John Florence Goes (Seaweed) Green
Two-time world champion, and his namesake surf brand Florence, partner with environmental innovator Sway for home compostable seaweed product packaging. Read here.
Alternatives to plastic materials and packaging are on the rise
Fashion brands including Burton and Florence are pioneering efforts to find sustainable alternatives to plastic and set new standards for the industry. Read here.
Californian start-up turns seaweed into a clever plastic alternative
Seaweed is revolutionising the fight against plastic pollution. In the past decade it has gained significant traction as a viable, renewable, and even regenerative plastic alternative to petroleum. Read here.
Meet 7 Women Leading the Way to a Brighter Climate Future
Meet just a few of the women from this year’s Aspen Ideas Festival whose big ideas and bold leadership are paving the way to a better future for people and planet. Read here.
4 talking points at Circularity on the path forward for packaging
To scale change, experts brought up the need for more precompetitive collaboration and the desire to move beyond pilots, among other themes. Read here.
Can Seaweed Solve the Beauty Industry's Plastic Problem?
Brands like Sway and Junk Theory are fighting against big beauty’s plastic dependency. Read here.
These 6 companies are transforming materials and the way we use them
Sway wins Fast Company’s 2024 World Changing Ideas Awards in the materials category. Read here.
5 packaging innovation trends to watch in 2024: SPC
Compostable seaweed packaging highlighted in the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s inaugural Packaging Innovation Trends Report. Read here.
Is seaweed the answer to our plastic problem?
Imagine if we could replace the plastic packaging we see in shops and that’s delivered to our homes, with a sustainable, compostable alternative? Julia Marsh and Matt Mayes are doing just that. Watch here.
Seaweed is the most generous material on Earth
What if the solution to the ocean plastic problem is in the ocean? Julia Marsh of Sway Seaweed Packaging believes it is. Find out why in the first short film in Imagine5's Climate Tech series. Watch here.
How Sway is Using Seaweed to Replace Single-Use Plastics
Parley speaks to Julia Marsh about her journey as a designer making "beautiful trash" to becoming a founder & CEO revolutionizing toxic food packaging. Read it here.
Startup set to revolutionize consumer goods with plastic packaging alternative — here's what it's made of
"We are building a material as functional and accessible as traditional plastic, but derived from a benevolent resource instead." Read it here.
Sway’s Seaweed-Based TPSea Resin Is Coming To A Package Near You
A Sway polybag made from TPSea. Sway’s portfolio includes flexible packaging applications such as polybags, retail bags and food wrappers for consumer brands. Read it here.
Next-Gen Material Innovation News You Need to Know This Month
Sway’s scalable, seaweed-based thermoplastic is ready to revolutionize the Industry. Read it here.
Can seaweed stop us ingesting microplastics?
Sway’s products displace everyday petroleum-based products that pollute nature and penetrate our own bodies. Read it here.
5 unusual ways seaweed is being used to tackle the climate crisis
Using the natural polymers found in different types of marine algae, Sway packaging can mimic all the best qualities of plastic. Read it here.
Sway Raises $5 Million for Seaweed-Based Packaging Innovation
J.Crew and Burton applauded the TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize winner's latest 'breakthrough' plastic-free technology. Read it here.
Seaweed packaging startup to replace plastics for national retailers like J. Crew and Burton
California-based startup Sway is taking a huge step forward in its fight for long-term sustainability. Read it here.
Sway Raises $5 Million for Seaweed-Based Packaging Innovation
Sway, the California startup replacing plastic packaging with seaweed-based solutions, has sealed a $5 million seed round. It’s a major leap forward for the 2023 winner of the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize in partnership with Lonely Whale. Read it here.
5 Startups to Pilot Solutions for Converting Unmanaged and Landfilled Items into New Value-Added Products
The startup cohort for the Puerto Rico project will aim to identify renewable life cycles for sargassum seaweed. Read it here.
Sway Awarded Competitive Grant from the U.S. NSF to Advance Seaweed Packaging Technology
NSF SBIR funding accelerates the development of the next generation of commercially viable, home compostable polymeric materials predominantly derived from seaweed. Read it here.
Five Tech Innovations That Could Help Save the Planet
Around the world, entrepreneurs are trying to turn green tech ideas into viable businesses. Sway tops the list of innovative companies and inventors on their way to scaled success. Read it here.
Here are the innovators and startups set to transform the circular economy
11 circular economy startups have emerged as $1 billion-plus companies since 2020. Read it here.
The circular economy at sea: regenerating the world’s life support system
It's time to redesign our economic system so that it actively contributes to ocean regeneration, both in localized spaces and at scale. Read it here.
We look to our polluted ocean as a symptom of the global plastic problem, but the answer to it may lie there too — in the form of seaweed-based packaging. Read it here.
Ales Grey Teams Up With Sway To Reinvent Shoe Packaging
Can you use seaweed to radically redesign the ubiquitous shoebox? Sway and Ales Grey show us there's another way. Read it here.
Support sought to fulfill Biden bioplastics goal
"The indication that 90% of plastics should be replaced with biobased feedstocks is an incredible signal to the investment community and to brands." Read it here.
Get Ready For Seaweed Packaging: Sway Nabs Top Prize In Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Competition
Well, it looks as if seaweed will finally get its time in the sun. Read it here.
Winners Of The Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize Are All Using Seaweed
Making bioplastics from seaweed is becoming fashionable. Read it here.
Unwrap the Future: TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize Winners
Seattle Aquarium tested biological degradation to better understand how Prize finalist materials behave if they end up in the ocean. Read it here.
TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize Winners Announced
The winners of the Plastic Innovation Prize used seaweed to design sustainable, biologically degradable alternatives to thin-film plastic. Read it here.
Tom Ford Reveals 2023 Plastic Innovation Prize Winners
At the Green Carpet Fashion Awards, three companies received sizable investments to achieve market adoption for their thin-plastic alternatives, with Sway winning 1st place! Read it here.
Seaweed Has its Eye on the Prize in the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize
Team Sway sits down with Dieline to share about their experience as a Finalist in the TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize over the last year. Read it here.
How seaweed could replace plastic bags and packaging
Sway makes compostable replacements for thin-film plastic out of seaweed, sourcing raw materials from seaweed farms that can provide habitat for sea life, combat ocean acidification, and create jobs. Watch here.
Seaweed Packaging with Sway and 5 Gyres
In partnership with Conde Nast Traveler, we join 5 Gyres to learn more about the future of plastic alternatives using a regenerable resource found in our very own oceans: seaweed. Watch it here.
The seaweed startup world needs to slow down
"Packaging made from seaweed can help solve our plastics problem, but not if we rush it," writes Sway's Head of Impact & Sustainability. Read it here.
Guacamole Airplane Sustainable Packaging Supplier Guide
The studio, which has worked with the likes of Allbirds, Nike, Whole Foods and Lumi, calls the guide a vital resource for brands and designers looking for information on sustainability. Read it here.
Mushrooms and seaweed are the next alternatives to plastic
As major brands continue to pledge to reduce plastic packaging, bio-based packaging companies have positioned themselves as alternatives. Read it here.
Replacing plastic packaging with seaweed
Plugging into existing infrastructure is is regularly cited as a scaling challenge with circular businesses and products - Sway is a solution. Watch it here.
Tom Ford’s Plastic Innovation Prize Announces Its Eight Finalists
180 billion plastic polybags are used by the fashion industry a year alone. The Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize aims to change that. Read it here.
This startup is making compostable plastic out of seaweed
Some plastic alternatives need to be put in industrial compost facilities or require acres of land for production. Sway’s seaweed plastic needs neither. Read it here.
Seaweed-Based Sway Is A Way For Single-Use Plastic To Disappear
Sway makes makes seaweed-based, home-compostable replacements for plastic packaging. And its materials even come in a rainbow of colors. Read it here.
Why seaweed is a natural fit for replacing certain plastics
"Seaweed and kelp are called the lungs of the ocean,” says Ives. “Over the last several years we have seen more farming to help..." Read it here.
Is Seaweed the Answer to Single-Use Plastic?
The company behind a seaweed-derived alternative to polybags and other forms of single-use plastic has closed on a $2.5 million seed raise... Read it here.
Bay Area company replacing plastic bags with compostable versions made from seaweed
Worldwide plastic pollution shows no signs of stopping, despite bans on single-use plastic bags such as the ones in California. Read it here.
These Winning Designs are Helping Us Reimagine the Plastic Bag
Sway’s design uses seaweed-derived material that is bio-based and designed to be carbon-negative, meaning it removes carbon from the environment when it’s made rather than adding to it. Read it here.
CVS, Target and Walmart Are Funding the Development of These Innovative Plastic Bag Alternatives
As more local governments pass measures banning those flimsy polypropylene bags, the need for a single-use solution is clear... Read it here.
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