Sway and BPI Partner to Advance Home Compostable Packaging Through 1% for the Planet

Sway dedicates 1% of its annual sales to BPI, highlighting the link between material innovation and systems-wide advancement of circularity and the compost industry

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NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sway, the California-based startup creating seaweed-based, home compostable replacements for plastic packaging, and The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), today announced a new partnership through the 1% for the Planet network. Sway has designated BPI as a recipient of its 1% for the Planet giving, a deliberate, mission-aligned financial commitment that donates 1% of a company’s annual sales directly to organizations in the 1% for the Planet environmental partners network. This partnership reflects the startup's belief that the organizations shaping the standards of tomorrow deserve support today.

Sway has been a certified 1% for the Planet Business Member since its founding in 2020, embedding environmental giving into its business model from day one. In 2024, the company was recognized with 1% for the Planet’s prestigious Change and Innovation Award, an honor that reflects its commitment to reimagining materials from the ground up.

As global plastic production continues to rise, the need for innovative replacements of conventional packaging is increasingly urgent. Conventional plastics persist in the environment, breaking down into microplastics that linger in soil, waterways, and living organisms. Certified compostable materials offer a fundamentally different end-of-life profile: common microbial life is able to break down these materials alongside food scraps, ensuring the carbon in these materials safely re-enters the biological cycle rather than accumulating in ecosystems. These materials, particularly those made with regenerative feedstocks, deliver the performance and convenience of conventional plastic without its long-term environmental costs. By designing products that can safely return to the earth through composting, companies like Sway are helping shift the industry toward solutions that support a more resilient, circular economy.

For BPI, the partnership reflects growing momentum from innovative materials companies that see certification not as a finish line, but as part of a shared mission to advance composting infrastructure and market integrity.

“BPI is doing essential work, building the certification frameworks and market trust that make genuinely compostable materials viable at scale,” said Julia Marsh, co-founder and CEO of Sway. “We believe in BPI’s mission and the importance of their certification program, and as Sway grows, we want our success to interlink with the partners and organizations creating real, on-the-ground impact for circularity. Becoming BPI-certified is an important milestone on our roadmap, and we’re looking forward to working closely with BPI through this partnership.”

BPI serves as the North American authority on compostable certification. The non-profit’s certification program rigorously tests compostable packaging, verifying that materials will meet or exceed ASTM standards and fully break down in commercial composting environments without leaving behind harmful residues. This includes disintegration, biodegradation, and ecotoxicity testing, as well as strict screening for harmful chemicals such as PFAS, heavy metals, and other potentially hazardous chemicals, ensuring certified products support safe, high-quality compost and a healthy circular system.

Sway’s packaging is already Certified Home & Industrial Compostable by TUV Austria, the leading compostable certification in Europe, and will now be working closely with BPI to receive its new home compatibility certification.

“The work that Sway is doing is truly cutting-edge, and their commitment to BPI emphasizes the important relationship between innovation that puts our planet first, and the regulations that ensure its value to the planet,” said Rhodes Yepsen, executive director at BPI. “By engaging early and supporting the systems that uphold compostability standards, Sway is helping strengthen the entire ecosystem and demonstrating what responsible innovation looks like in practice.”

Beyond material innovation and certification, both organizations recognize that policy change is essential to scaling compostable solutions across the industry. Sway and BPI are committed to working alongside legislators, waste haulers, and industry partners to advance the regulatory frameworks that will accelerate adoption of certified compostable packaging nationwide.

"Certified compostable products are only as impactful as the policy frameworks that support them," said Matthew Mayes, COO of Sway. "Legislation that mandates or incentivizes the use of certified compostable packaging, and that invests in the composting infrastructure to match, is essential to unlocking the full potential of materials like ours. Our partnership with BPI is a direct investment in the organizations doing the hard work of building those standards. The science is clear; now we need policy to catch up."

Through this collaboration, BPI and Sway aim to demonstrate how companies at any stage can engage in mission-driven partnerships, support critical infrastructure, and help accelerate the shift toward compostable, circular solutions.

To learn more about giving through 1% for the Planet, visit www.onepercentfortheplanet.org/donate

About Sway
Sway is a material innovation company scaling compostable, seaweed-based packaging. Their patented products match the vital performance attributes of conventional plastics and plug into existing infrastructure, enabling scale and impact. Unlike plastic, Sway materials leverage abundant, regenerative resources and compost into healthy soil after use, completing the loop of biological circularity. Sway is headquartered in the California Bay Area. Discover how they are creating materials that replenish the planet at swaythefuture.com.

Media Contact
press@swaythefuture.com.

About BPI
The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) is North America's leading authority on compostable products and packaging, certifying over 50,000 products from collection bags to food containers. For more than two decades, BPI has given consumers confidence in compostability claims with the backing of science-based standards, while enabling authentically sustainable choices for brands and packagers. BPI champions a systems-wide transition to the circular bioeconomy through rigorous testing, policy advocacy, and industry collaboration, building the infrastructure for "A World Without Organic Waste"—where food scraps and certified compostable packaging become resources. BPI is a non-profit 501(c)(6). To learn more, visit www.bpiworld.org and follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact
bpi@launchsquad.com

Sway and BPI Partner to Advance Home Compostable Packaging Through 1% for the Planet

Sway, the California-based startup creating seaweed-based, home compostable replacements for plastic packaging, and The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), today announced a new partnership through the 1% for the Planet network.

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