An innovative UTS-led project to produce a zero-waste bioplastic designed to mitigate pollution, and create future-proof employment opportunities for vulnerable coastal communities in the Asia Pacific.
Project summary
The world's oceans and waterways are awash with so much plastic that cleaning it up seems virtually impossible, but a bioplastic alternative made of red seaweed could make all the difference.
The SEAweed Tech project (SEA stands for Southeast Asia), led by UTS researchers in collaboration with Coast 4C, is based in the Philippines – where one million coastal-dwelling people depend on seaweed for their income, an increasingly vulnerable proposition in a changing climate.
By harnessing the existing large-scale seaweed farming industry, the project proposes an elegant and impactful solution: create a biodegradable alternative whose manufacturing process produces zero waste, with a clean and green supply chain that provides local, future-proof employment opportunities.
"We want to empower local communities to manage their marine plastics pollution, and develop a new green industry that can generate a new income source for seaweed farmers in coastal communities in the Philippines," says SEAweed Tech project lead UTS Professor Peter Ralph.
Plastic. By 2025 there will be one tonne of it for every three tonnes of fish in the ocean.
That's bad news for biodiversity and for millions of coastal reef fishers.
But with a helping hand from scientists, these communities are set to turn the problem on its head by farming seaweed to make eco-friendly plastics.
They could reduce problem plastics, increase biodiversity and create thriving local bioeconomies all in just five years.
Learn more c3.uts.edu.au
Everything about the seaweed-based bioplastic is sustainable, but to be successful, it also needs to be inexpensive.
After receiving a significant funding boost of $840,000 (over three years) in 2021 from Swiss philanthropic foundation, the Julius Baer Foundation, the project has moved from a successful concept testing phase to product development.
UTS marine biologist Dr Manoj Kumar says the objective for this phase is to, "make the process as straightforward as possible so seaweed farmers can implement this technology locally, and sell their partly-processed seaweed materials into new supply chains, to support the rapidly growing demand for bioplastics."
Our news article New wave of funding for UTS seaweed bioplastics has more information.
Project timeframe
2018 – 2023
SDG targets addressed by this project
Industry, innovation and infrastructure:
9.a – Facilitate sustainable and resilient infrastructure development in developing countries through enhanced financial, technological and technical support to African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States.
9.b – Support domestic technology development, research and innovation in developing countries, including by ensuring a conducive policy environment for, inter alia, industrial diversification and value addition to commodities.
Partnerships for the goals: 17.9 - By 2030, build on existing initiatives to develop measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product, and support statistical capacity-building in developing countries.
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Professor, Faculty of Science -
Research Fellow, Climate Change Cluster -
Key collaborators
- Coast 4C
- Local seaweed farmers, Philippines
- Julius Baer Foundation, Switzerland
