11:30, 02 March 2026
Words by Cheyanne Bryan, Editorial and Campaign Marketing Executive, London
In the race to become single-use-plastic-free, ambition scale seems to be the biggest hurdle. It is one thing to trial compostable packaging at a boutique café; quite another to deploy it across a national fast-food chain. That is why the new partnership between Notpla and Kwalitaria deserves attention far beyond the Netherlands.
Notpla, the London-based sustainable packaging innovator founded at Imperial College London and Royal College of Art, has secured its first quick-service restaurant (QSR) partnership after its seaweed-coated board was selected by Dutch distributor Conpax. The result: fully plastic-free trays for fries and snacks rolled out across Kwalitaria’s 160 restaurants nationwide.
Conventional cardboard food trays typically contain a thin plastic lining to resist heat and grease. Notpla’s seaweed-based coating performs the same function without plastic or microplastics and is home-compostable.
Crucially, it has been confirmed as fully plastic-free by the Dutch Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT), placing it outside the scope of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive. For operators navigating tightening regulation, that distinction matters.
The environmental gains are tangible. Kwalitaria estimates annual savings of 102.5 tonnes of CO₂ — the equivalent of 153 return flights between Amsterdam and New York — alongside the elimination of 6.9 tonnes of plastic waste, roughly the weight of four cars. These are not abstract lifecycle calculations but material reductions in waste and emissions.
Quick-service restaurants are among the toughest testing grounds for sustainable materials. High volumes, tight margins and demanding performance standards leave little room for compromise. That Notpla’s coating can withstand hot, greasy foods in such environments provides a powerful proof point.
As chief executive Pierre Paslier has argued, this is about more than swapping materials; it is about demonstrating that plastic-free systems can function in the real world without sacrificing food safety or customer experience.
Kwalitaria calls itself a frontrunner. In this case, the label fits. By acting decisively rather than waiting for regulatory compulsion, it signals a shift in what is considered operationally possible. If seaweed can replace plastic at scale in Dutch snack bars, the question for Europe’s larger chains is no longer whether change is viable, but how quickly they are prepared to follow.
