In 2011 Neha Jain joined Google after finishing her bachelor's degree in journalism from Bengaluru’s Christ University. However, she soon realised that working in the internet industry was not her calling.

So she quit her job in 2018 to tackle one of the biggest challenges of our times: single-use plastic. Her solution? Turning seaweed into dissolvable packaging.

Neha began her journey by investigating the end-of-life path of plastic. “Only a small portion of what we throw directly goes to the recycling centre. Most of the plastic we throw goes to the landfills,” she shares.

Plastic stays in the environment for thousands of years, breaks into tiny microplastics that harm species on land and in the sea and is not carbon efficient.

A report by the Minderoo Foundation predicts that single-use plastics could contribute 5-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This motivated Neha to seek materials that are regenerative rather than merely renewable.

This search led to the creation of ‘Zerocircle’, a startup producing packaging materials that are dissolvable, home-compostable, and bio-digestible.

Zerocircle processes red, brown, and green seaweed and turns it into a powder, which is then converted into materials ranging from handbags to food-safe films.

Working with marine biologist Dr CRK Reddy, Neha explored Maharashtra’s coasts in 2019 to test seaweed farming. They found a potential site near Murud Janjira.

“Seaweed comes with a low carbon footprint. It is grown in the sea, so we’re not adding any fertilisers or pesticides. We don’t need excess water. It offers livelihood options and development of coastal communities,” shares Dr Reddy.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic halted the project, Zerocircle now sources seaweed from farms in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu to produce its eco-friendly materials.

“We aim to reduce 2,500 to 3,000 tonnes of plastic annually within the next few years,” shares Neha.

Dr Reddy calls seaweed “a potential resource for making bioplastics”, with a low carbon footprint and great benefits for coastal communities.

Since 2021, Zerocircle has been able to raise a total of $300,000 from different investors. The company also advanced to the finale of the prestigious Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize.