What do fashion designer Stella McCartney, actor Don Cheadle, and the executive vice president of Mastercard have in common? Along with a few other carefully selected individuals, theyâre all judges for a first-of-its-kind competition hosted by Tom Ford to develop a biodegradable alternative to plastic poly bags.
When the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize (powered by the nonprofit Lonely Whale) put out a call for innovators, manufacturers, and scientists to develop sustainable alternatives to thin plastic packaging, sixty-four teams across twenty-six countries applied. If the finalists are any indication, we see a lot of seaweed in your future when it comes to plastic alternatives. Five out of eight of the finalists focus on seaweed-based materials, including Kelpi, Zerocircle, and Sway, an innovative materials lab we featured a couple of years ago. We checked in with Julia Marsh, CEO and co-founder of Sway, and her team to learn more about the competition and their progress since we last spoke in 2021.
