It’s no secret that we are facing an enormous plastic waste problem but, at Lonely Whale (an award-winning non-profit whose mission ensures plastic waste does not find its way into the ocean), we want to spotlight and scale solutions.
 
That’s why, in 2020, Lonely Whale teamed up with the eponymous brand to launch the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize, the only global competition focused exclusively on sourcing and scaling marine-safe and biologically degradable alternatives to traditional thin-film plastic which makes up 46% of plastic waste entering the ocean each year.
 
In spring 2023, Sway, Zerocircle and Notpla were selected as winners of a $1.2 million Prize Purse sponsored by Tom Ford Beauty, theThe Estée Lauder Companies and direct investments by Trousdale Ventures. The award followed a rigorous nine-month-long materials testing phase sponsored by Nike and conducted by the New Materials Institute at the University of Georgia and Seattle Aquarium. Winning materials were also tested by major brands through the Early Adopter coalition, which includes Tom Ford Beauty, to ensure viability as a replacement to traditional thin-film plastic.
 
All three winning companies use seaweed instead of fossil fuels as feedstocks to design their alternatives. Seaweed is an abundant, fast-growing, and regenerative raw material that does not require human action, fresh water, fertilizer, pesticides, or land to grow. It also locks away (or sequesters) carbon which naturally combats ocean acidification making it an important tool to mitigating the changing climate’s negative ocean impact.
 
In 2023, Lonely Whale will launch an Innovation Accelerator to support market adoption of these winning materials. Sponsored by Tom Ford Beauty and The Estée Lauder Companies, the Innovation Accelerator is aligned with their goals to reduce potential environmental impacts of a package across its lifecycle.
 
Brands interested in joining the Early Adopter Coalition can reach out to [email protected] for more information.