Swapping plastic with seaweed: A Wknd interview with Neha Jain of Zerocircle

It all started when Neha Jain decided to rid her home of plastic, five years ago.

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As she carried the refuse out to the recyclers, she realised she hadn’t made a dent. Not just in her lifestyle, but in the larger landscape of the problem too.

“I have always wanted to work in the sustainability sector,” says the serial entrepreneur and former solutions consultant at Google. “But, like most, I did not have a clear path nor information.”

At this time, in 2018, it had been six years since Jain launched her first start-up, Fly by Knight. It was India’s first “midnight delivery service”, and was operational in Mumbai until 2015. “It was a quick-commerce company operating when fast deliveries were unheard of and it was an exciting challenge,” she says.

After Fly by Knight, she served as a software solutions consultant, then set that aside to chase this new dream: could she work with scientists, think-tanks and researchers to counter plastic packaging at scale?

A key collaborator began to help give the dream direction early on. CRK Reddy, a scientist focused on marine microalgae or seaweed, and former head of the non-profit organisation Indian Centre for Climate and Societal Impacts Research, has spent decades advocating for better communication about the climate crisis, the changes required and the actions individuals, companies and countries can take.

“Our company is the outcome of immense research and several trips to the coastlines of Maharashtra” says Jain, 37. Zerocircle was set up in 2020, with a mission of turning seaweed into biodegradable plastic-substitute packaging.

Last month, the company won a Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize for making bio-digestible packaging material from seaweed. The prize — named for the American fashion designer and created by him, in association with the Lonely Whale Foundation — awards efforts to “source and scale marine-safe and biologically degradable alternatives to traditional thin-film plastic made from fossil fuels”. Zerocircle has won $250,000 of the total purse of $1.2 million.

Its packaging solutions break down in four to eight weeks, depending on the thickness, and in 30 seconds in boiling water, leaving behind no residue. Besides being biodegradable, they are transparent, heat-sealable and food-safe.

Seaweed, a term that encompasses a range of marine algae species, is a vital part of ocean ecosystems. It provides food to numerous species, from tiny crabs and crayfish to the giant humpback whale. Forests of seaweed also act as shelters and nurseries for marine life.

Packed with flavour as well as with vitamins, fibre and other nutrients, it’s been on the menu for humans for decades, in modern times. In recent years, innovators around the world have also been working to develop the high-tensile-strength material as an alternative to plastic. Different companies have met with success in different ways. Some have made bubble wrap and food containers that are part seaweed, part fossil fuel. Others even among this year’s prize-winners have made pouches that can be used for different purposes.

Zerocircle’s packaging is made from three broad groups of seaweed: Rhodophyta (red), Phaeophyta (brown) and Chlorophyta (green). The company procures its seaweed from farms in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. “We closely work with local communities to ensure that the farming practices are sustainable and aren’t interfering with the natural ecosystem,” says Jain.

Setting it all up in the pandemic posed unique challenges, Jain recalls. “For a product that is so driven by the science, we didn’t have a lab to work in. It was one of the biggest challenges, finding a lab that would allow us to work during the pandemic,” she says.

The first prototype of a clear, flexible film was built in about six months. But it wasn’t nearly as durable as it needed to be. “It took multiple iterations to perfect.” There was no one turning point. “We always knew that the material would work and it did. The right formula wasn’t just about chemical composition and molecular structure. It had to be the perfect trifecta of pricing, biomass availability and our technology. When all these pieces fell into place, we had not just a scientific solution but a scalable solution for the world.”

As more countries move to ban single-use and other plastics, Zerocircle is hoping to step in and fill the gap in what will be the booming niche of biopolymers in the sustainable products landscape.

“The materials industry is continuously evolving, with new materials being introduced, but also rampant greenwashing. Brands and consumers are bombarded with terms such as ‘compostable,’ ‘biodegradable,’ and ‘sustainable’ without a clear understanding of their meanings and implications for a product’s end-of-life,” says Jain. Communicating effectively, especially to companies, is part of Zerocircle’s mission, she says.

Considerable hurdles remain. Plastic is a habit. It is prevalent and easily accessible. Most of all, it’s cheap.

Pricing is currently the biggest concern, Jain says. “Procurement departments are trained to look at the immediate costs, but when you add the actual monetary cost that is borne by society at large, the price of plastic over a lifetime is 10 times higher. New materials, in comparison, are 1.5 or 2 times higher in the immediate, but cost society nothing upon disposal.”

Implementing legislative change would help. “We need legislation to tax plastic and to incentivise new materials. At the moment, we do not have recognised certification for materials that are home compostable. These changes and adoptions will help companies make better decisions.”

Although Zerocircle is currently in the pre-production stage (a commercial launch is pending), the mission is ready: to utilise a massive resource in a bio-sustainable way. “The huge Indian coastlines,” Jain says, “have way more to offer than just breathtaking views.”