Company: Ocean's Halo

Website: https://oceanshalo.com/

Introduced: September 2021

Distribution: National

Suggested Retail Price: $1.29

Product Snapshot: Ocean’s Halo, one of the fastest growing Asian-inspired brands offering seaweed snacks, broth, noodles and sauces, announced that it will launch a trayless seaweed snack, removing the plastic holding tray from the packaging. Starting in Sept. 2021, its Sea Salt-flavored Seaweed Snack will be sold without a tray in almost 500 supermarkets nationwide as well as online. Constantly looking to advance its commitment to sustainability, Ocean’s Halo is the lead producer of seaweed snacks to remove the plastic holder.  

Removing the tray will keep at least 15 million pieces of plastic waste out of landfills and oceans every year. “Consumers increasingly want sustainable products and we believe eliminating this plastic packaging waste is a game-changing innovation,” said CEO Robert Mock. “We have been working on this patent-pending technology for a long time and are excited that it’s finally come to fruition. This is a win for consumers, merchants and the planet. We hope it will become the industry standard.”

The Trayless Sea Salt Seaweed Snack will first be available beginning this month in-store in the U.S. at retailers including Walmart, and online at Walmart.com, Amazon.com, and exclusively later this year at Ocado.com in the U.K. In addition to the plastic reduction, removing the plastic tray will reduce the brand’s overall carbon footprint by 50 percent and will also account for nearly four times more shelf efficiency at super markets and on customers’ home shelves and cabinets. 

Ocean’s Halo has always been committed to sustainability and remains dedicated to further packaging innovation. According to an August poll by Consumer Brands/Ipsos, 87 percent of American shoppers, from boomers thru GenZ, are concerned about plastics and packaging waste; however, consumers have limited environmental-friendly options when it comes to packaging.

The popularity of seaweed in the healthy snack category, which is currently a $2 billion industry, has grown substantially in recent years, specifically among younger consumers who demand adventurous, healthy and sustainable food choices. All of Ocean Halo’s seaweed snacks are nutrient dense, USDA-certified organic, non-GMO, vegan and gluten-free. Seaweed is a sustainable future food that doesn’t need soil, fresh water, or fertilizer. It simply grows in the ocean with sunlight while it absorbs carbon from the environment, making it truly a carbon-negative crop.