Citizens of Soil has teamed up with sustainable packaging startup Notpla to launch a biodegradable single-serve olive oil pipette, made from seaweed.
In a UK first, Citizens of Soil’s “vibrant and peppery” Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Andalucía is now available to retailers and foodservice customers in the 10ml pipette (rsp: £1.50), which was “100% natural, biodegradable, home-compostable, vegan, and even edible”, according to Notpla.
Consumers operate the pipette by pinching and twisting the nib to remove it, before squeezing for an “easily controlled drip release”.
The partnership is a limited-run trial, during which Citizens of Soil and Notpla will continue to test the quality of the olive oil contained in the pipettes through lab analysis.
The two B Corp-certified businesses plan to enter large-scale production at the beginning of 2025.
Notpla’s packaging was “the first and only” material worldwide to have been recognised as being plastic-free under the European Single Use Plastics Directive.
It won the Earthshot Prize 2022 – a global environment award launched by Prince William in 2020 – after having supplied over one million takeaway boxes to Just Eat in 12 months.
To date, it claims to have replaced 16 million pieces of single-use plastic that would otherwise have entered the environment with its packaging solutions.
“We’re constantly working to improve our footprint but finding a solution that fits the temperamental and delicate nature of the highest quality extra virgin olive oils is not easily done,” said Citizens of Soil co-founder Sarah Vachon.
“Light, air, heat, and time are all ‘enemies’ that degrade EVOO, but it also won’t work with certain plastics and traditional ‘eco’ or compostable packaging options since it can leach.
“Notpla offers a material that’s not only nature-based and edible, but also extensively tested and trialled,” Vachon added.
Notpla co-CEO and co-founder Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez said: “It’s partnerships like this – with true pioneers of sustainable solutions – that enable us to show the world what’s possible with real, natural alternatives to single-use plastic.
“Together, we’re enabling convenience and amazing experiences to stay on the menu, without the guilty aftertaste of plastic pollution.”
You can now secure your tickets to The Grocer New Product & Packaging Awards!
Join us on 8 November at Wembley Stadium to celebrate the latest and greatest product and packaging innovations.
See this year’s finalists and book your seat here.
No comments yet