SEAWEED
A clever plastic substitute, a nutritious food and a skincare ingredient, seaweed is emerging as a miracle plant that could play a big role in combatting climate change. Here, we investigate a growing British industry
Bruce Hare’s office is perched on the weathered coastline of Scotland’s Isle of Skye. From here, he can look out over the site of his first farm – not a muddy stretch of field, but a patch of ocean. Beneath the waves he plans to suspend ropes laced with kelp, an umbrella term for brown species of macroalgae, more commonly known as seaweed.
Often condemned as smelly and unsightly, the seaweed that rots on our beaches has a bad reputation – an obstacle on the sand to hop over, slimy tentacles to avoid when swimming. The name doesn’t help either, aligning macroalgae with those shoots so loathed by gardeners. But Hare, 72, is among a crop of up-and-coming British seaweed farmers who believe it is a miracle plant for our time.
Not only is it a superfood extolled by the likes of Victoria Beckham and Jamie Oliver (who called it ‘the most nutritious vegetable in the world’), it’s also a mineral-rich skincare ingredient, can be used in feed for cattle – pilot projects in Sweden cut cows’ methane emissions by up to 80% a day – and it works as a fertiliser. It could even help tackle plastic pollution, with London start-up Notpla winning Prince William’s Earthshot Prize in 2022 for its seaweed-based packaging. Notpla’s biodegradable seaweedcoated takeaway boxes are now on the market, with seaweed ‘cling film’ next on its list.
The plant’s environmental credentials begin at the growing stage: it needs no land or fertiliser and some scientists estimate that, acre-by-acre, seaweed growing in the sea is up to 20 times more effective at absorbing carbon than trees. ‘The potential is staggering,’ says Hare, founder of start-up KALY, which he conceived in 2020. Formerly an architect and real-estate developer, this is his third career. ‘Time is precious to me,’ he says. ‘I think of life as a mountain and I’m on the downward slope, so I’m very careful about how I spend my days.’
Though worldwide seaweed production has tripled since 2000, more than 97% of this £11 billion industry is concentrated in Asia. Britain’s output has grown considerably since we had one lonely seaweed farm in 2016, but our offering remains a literal drop in the ocean. There are now around 20 farms, most of which are small-scale. But with more than 650 native species of seaweed thriving in our seas – broadly categorised into brown, red and green groups – ‘aquaculturists’ are committed to making the UK’s industry bloom. ‘We’re
