Food packaging coatings (on paper wraps, cartons and cardboard) are essential to providing a physical barrier to protect food products in the packaging container during storage and transportation. Current packaging coatings are based on petrochemical derived waxes and polymers. However, with increasing petroleum costs and recent instability and volatility in some oil producing countries, the food packaging sector is searching for an alternative reliable and sustainable coating product. This would also promote the recycling characteristics of spent paper food packaging (currently this is difficult, as petroleum based coatings commonly used for this purpose reduce the compostability of paper. Our proposed research project, PlantPack, will aim to develop a sustainable, eco-friendly food packaging coating product made from seaweed extracts and starch, which will be applied to paper and cardboard in the form of a spray. This new coating will replace the current petroleum derived coating products, and thus improve the sustainability and biodegradability characteristics of both coatings and the final food packaging developed.