Shadow Minister for Climate Change visits Kelpi

Kerry McCarthy is shown Kelpi tech by CTO Georgios Gkotsis and CSO Stefanie Federle

Part of Kelpi’s mission is to engage key changemakers around our goal to reduce microplastics from packaging. So welcoming Kerry McCarthy, shadow Minister for Climate Change, to our Bristol HQ today gave us a chance to discuss plastic pollution, toxicity and biodiversity.  

Today’s visit gave Kerry, the Labour candidate for the Bristol East constituency which includes Kelpi’s laboratories and offices, the opportunity to learn more about Kelpi’s unique material and our focus on eliminating single-use plastic packaging by developing a viable seaweed-derived alternative that matches or even exceeds the performance of many fossil-fuel plastics.

Plastic production and disposal emits around 3% of global emissions. The most visible environmental impact of plastic is of course the waste that ends up in our rivers and oceans, but it’s the less visible microplastics that present such a threat to human and planetary health.

The circular economy, green finance and the huge potential of seaweed in addressing climate change all formed key parts of today’s discussion around sustainable packaging. We also focused on the value of innovation and the creation of high-tech and science-based jobs in Bristol.