Biopac: Ocean-based solution to tackle climate crisis.

Plastic waste harms wildlife and damages the ecosystem. Plastic emits CO2 during production and waste management. Plastic and its disintegrating particles cause adverse effects on all living things, including plants, animals, and humans. Plastic polybags decrease soil porosity and crop production. The animals mistake plastic waste for feed or are entrapped in it. Microplastic is present in the air, sea salt, and water. The most terrifying fact is that microplastics accumulate in human lungs, blood, and the placenta. It's been found that microplastic in the placenta leads to preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction. Despite its negative effects, single-use packaging is still needed to maintain product hygiene, facilitate product delivery, and provide consumer convenience.

Another problem that we could manage is the oversupply of seaweed, which leaves the seaweed farmers vulnerable. The infrastructure in rural areas is still limited, so it is difficult for the farmers to sell their seaweed at retail to the local markets nearby.

Our innovative solution addresses the issue of climate change at every stage, from the raw materials to the intended use. We empower seaweed farmers to farm and produce high quality seaweed by sustainable practices, includes removing the use of disposable water bottle as buoy and plastic bag to pack the seaweed.

Our innovative solution addresses the issue of climate change at every stage, from raw materials to the intended use. We empower seaweed farmers to farm and produce high-quality seaweed using sustainable practices, which include removing the use of disposable water bottles as buoys and plastic bags to pack the seaweed.

Biopac utilizes seaweed to manufacture seaweed-based bio-packaging. Biopac® is not only affordable but also eco-friendly, biodegradable, compostable, and free from harmful chemicals. It has a shelf life of up to two years when stored in an airtight container. We strive to make the entire production process as environmentally friendly as possible, starting from the optimization of seaweed cultivation, solar-based drying and shipment, product innovation, the manufacturing process, and distribution. As a pioneer in seaweed-based bioplastic development and manufacturing, we hold five patents on seaweed-based products and packaging.

Biopac® product range includes sheets, sachets, gussets, pouches, shopping bags, and seal tape, which are versatile and suitable for various sectors such as food, skincare, hair care, retail, hospitality, and more. We distribute Biopac® worldwide in a B2B model. Biopac® is printable and compatible with automatic sachet machines (

) and vacuum packaging, making it ideal for mass-produced consumer goods (). We also offer Biopac® in three grades, including edible packaging products for the food industry. Furthermore, we have expanded our product line to include an ink product () for packaging printing purposes that is made from seaweed, further increasing the eco-friendliness of our packaging products.

We have 159 B2B customers from resellers, food, cosmetics, personal care, and souvenir industries who are aware of the plastic waste problem and sustainability. They are from 25 countries, but it is still too small compared to the real plastic waste contributors.

We empower seaweed farmers by providing plastic-free seaweed farming practices and securing seaweed demand continuously so that they have a sustainable income and will not stop farming seaweed because seaweed is an effective CO2 sequestering agent. Compared to terrestrial plants, seaweed sequesters CO2 much more efficiently because CO2 solubility in seawater is higher than that in the air.

Our team consists of 2 women as shareholders, 1 woman as a business development advisor, and 1 man as a technical advisor. We have different expertise but a similar passion to combat plastic waste pollution. All of us have heard the story about plastic waste and seaweed.

The chairwoman, Indra, experienced flooding every year when she lived in Jakarta. She had to flee to her friend’s home for 3 days, was stuck on the bus for 10 hours, and lost her friend due to leptospirosis after the flood. The flood was not caused by heavy rain, but by plastic waste that clogged waterways and flooded the river. Her educational background as an industrial engineer and experience in production planning and inventory control are important to optimizing our production efficiency.

Nory has done persistent bioplastic research since 2010 and earned five patents in bioplastic innovation. We have Asaf with expertise and experience as a chemical engineer (bachelor-doctoral degree) with particular experience in seaweed commercialization factory plants and starch-based bioplastic engineering. Selda is our business development manager, whose experience as a community empowerment advocate, business consultant, and company valuation expert is very fruitful for Biopac.

Due to our business model being B2B, we will explain the size of our business based on the number of our direct customers and their headquarters. There are 159 companies as our customers, from 25 countries, who have bought 2560kg of our product to replace their single-use plastic.

Though we have gained traction already, it is still too small compared to the size of the problem that we have to overcome. We need support in terms of marketing networks, financial support, and technical support so that we can make a significant contribution to tackling the climate crisis due to plastic waste and CO2 emissions. The presence of microplastic in human blood, lungs, brain, and placenta alerts us that we still have a short time to tackle plastic waste before it creates an uncontrollable global crisis, not only in climate but also in health.

The competitive advantages of Biopac® packaging:

• Our packaging products have a Certificate of Conformity that confirms they pass the test against 219 substances of very high concern.
• Our sachet, pouch, and gusset are compatible with vacuum packaging chambers and with degassing valves.
• Our products are the most affordable among all brands of seaweed-based bio-packaging. We are the pioneer in seaweed-based bio-packaging manufacturing.
• We just received information from TUV that our product passed the home compostability certification assessment, and the certificate will be sent by June 2023.
• We own five patents on seaweed-based products.

• P00201906539 and PCT/ID2020/000003 (registered in 2019). Bioplastic Packaging for Container from Seaweed and The Manufacturing Method Thereof.
• P00201906541 and PCT/ID2020/000004 (registered in 2019). Biodegradable and Edible Bioplastic from Renewable Plant Based Polymer for Packaging and The Manufacturing Method Thereof.
• IDP0046628 (registered in 2013, granted in 2017). Cangkang Kapsul Keras dari Rumput Laut dan Teknologi Proses Pembuatannya (Seaweed-based Hard Capsule and Its Processing Technology).
• IDP0044135 (registered in 2012, granted in 2016). Bioplastik Edibel dari Rumput Laut dan Teknologi Proses Pembuatannya (Seaweed-based Edible Bioplastic and Its Processing Technology).
• IDP0038531 (registered in 2011, granted in 2015). Bioplastik Biodegradabel, Teknologi Proses Pembuatan dan Biodegradasinya (Biodegradable Bioplastic, Its Producing and Biodegradation Processing Technology).

The competitive advantages of seaweed for our farmers are as follows:

• We implement sustainable practices in seaweed farming by not using disposable water bottles as buoys and using eco-friendly jute bags for packing seaweed instead of plastic bags.
• Our seaweed is traceable and free from any hazardous chemicals that are sometimes used to wash and bleach the seaweed.
• No child labor is involved on our farm.

Over the initial three years of Biopac operation, we have successfully manufactured and sold 2,560 kg of Biopac® to 159 customers spanning 25 different countries. By replacing conventional plastic, we have prevented 15.1 tons of CO2 emissions, further aiding in mitigating ocean acidity and climate change. Biopac® plays a crucial role in preventing the increasing accumulation of microplastics in the environment, including air, soil, and water, and even the unintended microplastic consumption by living beings, including humans. By using seaweed as raw material, we contribute to sequestering 6.3 tons of CO2 emissions, contributing to our overall carbon offsetting efforts.

We aim to multiply our impact by expanding our activities upstream and downstream. We will use IDR 1.67 billion grant to scale up our sheet capacity two times as much as our current capacity and empower 26 seaweed farmers to utilize 8 ha of seashore and farm 120 tons of seaweed annually. We contribute to preventing the emissions of 215 tons of CO2 by replacing 233K sqm of conventional plastic with Biopac® and sequestering 216 tons of CO2 from seaweed farming. A comprehensive impact report will be made by identifying: 1) the amount of conventional plastic that has been replaced; 2) the amount of seaweed farmed and the proximity of CO2 sequestration throughout the seaweed cultivation process; and 3) the income of seaweed farmers, which has increased since collaborating with Biopac and implementing sustainable practices.

We measure our impact using internal and external parameters. The internal parameters are total product sales and seaweed farmed; total job creation in our factory; total empowered seaweed farmers; and the happiness index of our employees and seaweed farmers. The external parameters, though they do not solely depend on us, such as daily waste from a city, microplastic concentration in water and the human body, and ocean acidity, will be considered. These are the baseline data for external parameters:

• Indonesia throws out about 8.9 million tons of plastic waste annually (World Bank 2018).
• Microplastic concentrations in fresh water and drinking water ranged from 0.001 to 1000 particles/L.
• Microplastics were detected in all tested placentas, with an average abundance of 7 particles per gram of placenta.
• The average concentration of plastic particles per sample was 1.6 g/mL of blood.
• The pH of the ocean in Maluku is 8.69. 

We use biomolecular engineering to arrange the polymer chains of seaweed and their interactions among the same and different polymer chains from different species of seaweed so that it has enough tensile strength and elasticity without sacrificing its natural properties.

We have proven the technology's performance from the laboratory scale to the commercial scale.

Seaweed farming is non-capital-intensive and socially inclusive. We uphold the gender equality principle in building business partnerships and hiring employees. Most corporate companies require university or college graduates for their full-time employees, but we create jobs for local people who do not have the opportunity for college study. They have the right to obtain a job with a sustainable income so that they can feed their families and access education for their children.

Value Proposition: convenient, printable, colorable, vacuumable, heat sealable, long shelf life of up to 2 years at a maximum 26 deg.C, safe for all living things, certified by TUV as confirmed to SVHC regulation and home compostable.

Customer segments: food, personal care, souvenirs, retailers

Channels: online and offline.

Key Resources:

1. tangible assets: production machines and facilities

2. intangible assets: 5 patents, 1 trademark, human resources, and a customer database.

Key Activities:

1. Biopac® production, marketing and sales, and innovation

2. Seaweed farmer empowerment

3. Building partnerships with logistics and shipping companies

Our revenue comes from product sales, while our costs comprise CAPEX and OPEX for manufacturing and marketing activities.

We apply for grants to do research and innovation at laboratory scale and to scale up promising results from the laboratory to pilot scale.

We are open to investment to scale up the products that are successful at pilot scale and accepted by the market.

We received four grants last year, which enabled us to:

1. penetrate the Indonesian market, especially the food and beverage sector, which is price-sensitive.

2. Scale up our sheet production.