Manufacturing biodegradable algae-based plastics in Madagascar through a triple bottom line approach

The Triple-Bottom-Line (TBL) approach describes how corporations should not only focus on the economic value, but also on the environmental and social values that they add - or destroy (Elkington, 1999).
In 2010, despite the fierce global debate over the past three decades about sustainability, 8 million metric tons of plastic waste still went into the ocean (Jambeck et al., 2015). However, it harms marine biodiversity and to some extent declines the normal reproduction level of marine animals, mostly fishes.
For the time being, fishing is still among the main sources of income for coastal communities in Africa. Thus, the need to undertake alternative and environmentally friendly income-generating activities (IGA) is now imperative as their livelihood starts to slump.
In this sense, this research will contribute to enhance literature on triple bottom line approach (economic-social-environment) applied in the field of aquaculture entrepreneurship as well as in bioplastic industries.
In doing so, Carrageenan mainly extracted from Kappaphycus Alvarezï alga mixed with Polybutylene Adipate Terephtalate will give bioplastics expected to degrade faster. The main objective is to create a new sustainable value chain of bioplastics where integrated seaweed farming, carried out by farmers of coastal communities in the South West region of Madagascar, will provide an alternative IGA to fishing. Moreover, valorizing their algae production gets its market out of a monopsony. Afterwards, the final output aims to reduce global downstream plastic waste for the sake of marine biodiversity.
In order to elaborate its business model and to reach an optimum profitability with the best scenarios of formulation, the implementation of the social life cycle assessment method (S-LCA) informs on the potential social and socio-economic impacts of the bioplastic throughout the extraction and processing of raw materials; manufacturing; distribution; use and biodegradation. Furthermore, it emphasizes social issues to be considered among stakeholders (workers, consumers, local community, society, value chain actors). The life cycle assessment method (LCA) informs on the environmental potential impacts of the output (Spierling et al., 2018) and its contribution to SDGs (SDG9; SDG12, SDG17) and the Carbone capture potential of seaweed farming (COP26 - nature based solutions).