Prince of Wales celebrates Earthshot Prize winner’s eco-packaging deal

The Prince of Wales has hailed a breakthrough contract won by an Earthshot Prize winner to supply eco-packaging, which will cut tonnes of waste.

William visited the Oval cricket ground, home of Surrey County Cricket Club, to celebrate the achievements of Notpla’s seaweed-based products, and joked about eating pizzas with Prince George during an Ashes test match at the ground.

Notpla’s boxes and trays will be supplied to Levy, a leading sports and entertainment caterer, for use in more than 50 venues from the Oval to Wimbledon’s All England Lawn Tennis Club and London’s O2 Arena.

After seeing the packaging in use, filled with pizzas and hotdogs in a hospitality suite, William told Pierre Paslier, Notpla’s co-founder and co-chief executive officer: “The solutions are out there you’ve just got to back them up… I’m so pleased this has been a big hit.”

He smiled as he chatted and told the entrepreneur: “I’ve got a big grin on my face, here you go Pierre – lift off.”

During the visit, William met players practising at the ground and Alec Stewart, former England captain and Surrey’s director of cricket. He told them how he took Prince George to watch England take on Australia at the Oval, with his son having “a great day”.

Later in the hospitality suite at the south London stadium, the conversation turned to food when William said the smell of the dishes was making him hungry.

About his Oval visit last summer with George, he said: “When we were here watching the Ashes, we spent most of the time eating pizza, I was like ‘we’re here to watch the cricket, come outside’”.

The prince has been instrumental in helping support the relationship between Levy and Notpla, which won the Build a Waste-Free World Earthshot category in 2022.

The new contract will see Levy using an expected 75 million items of Notpla’s seaweed-based food packaging materials over the next three years, helping them to meet their ambitious climate targets.

Singapore staged the most recent Earthshot awards ceremony last November after prize-giving events were held in Boston in 2022 and London’s Alexandra Palace in 2021.

Cape Town has been named as the host city for the 2024 awards.