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Plastic is everywhere, and not just in landfill. It’s in our clothes, our water, and the invisible systems that make 'single use' feel normal. We sit down with Simon and Vasundhara from Compound, a CoLabs venture exploring algae biomaterials, to ask a simple question with massive consequences: what if we could replace soft plastics with materials grown from seaweed?

Vasundhara brings an industrial design lens and a fast prototyping mindset, while Simon comes from tech and systems thinking. Together, they unpack why materials are the best place to start when you’re building towards a circular bioeconomy: fewer regulatory roadblocks than food, less capital intensity than carbon projects, and a direct path to everyday products people can actually touch. We also get into the uncomfortable history of petrochemical plastics, how wartime speed and cheap oil locked in “heat, beat, treat” manufacturing, and why the real challenge now is changing incentives, language, and consumer stress around recycling.

From invasive kelp like Wakame to local blue economy collaborations, we explore what resilient, bioregional supply chains could look like in Australia. Then we go deeper: biological time versus industrial time, designing for change and imperfection, and flipping the culture from unboxing to 'boxing it up' at the end of a product’s life.

If you care about regenerative materials, seaweed packaging, microplastics, PFAS, or life-centred design, hit play. Subscribe, share the episode with a mate, and leave a review so more people can find this work.

Keen to hear more about Compound?

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• Vasundhara
• Simon

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This experimental and emergent podcast will continue adapting and evolving in response to our ever-changing environment and the community we support. If there are any topics you'd like us to cover, folks you'd like us to bring onto the show, or live events you feel would benefit the ecosystem, drop us a line.

We're working on and supporting a range of community-led, impact-oriented initiatives spanning conservation, bioremediation, synthetic biology, biomaterials, and systems innovation.

If you have an idea that has the potential to support the thriving of people and the planet, get in contact! We'd love to help you bring your bio-led idea to life.

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David is a researcher-turned-innovator with three decades in biomedical science, a PhD-era discovery that reshaped our understanding of energy metabolism, and a new company, Utilium, born from a hospital bed and a handful of rocks from Bunnings.

In this episode, we sit down with one of CoLabs' Impact Members to explore his bio-inspired approach to biofilms: the invisible microbial communities that cost global industry $2–3 trillion a year, fuel antibiotic resistance, and lurk in the rubber seal of your washing machine.

David shares how crustaceans (who somehow keep their shells immaculate in an ocean seemingly devoted to the degradation of most things) became the blueprint for a technology that could transform healthcare, marine infrastructure, food production, and more.

In this conversation, we explore how daydreaming is a useful method for ideation, the freedom that comes with constraint, trusting your instincts, and why the gold is always hiding in the detail.

What we cover

• How David isolated AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase) – a breakthrough enzyme central to energy metabolism – using a Velcro analogy and an analog lab setup, pre-internet
• The brutal economics of academic research: falling grant success rates, frozen samples, and an unceremonious exit
• A winding path through cannabis terpenes, horse probiotics, and ship biofouling that eventually pointed to biofilms
• What biofilms actually are – and why treating them as a bacterial problem misses the point entirely
• The first experiment: two rocks, some oregano oil, and 93 days in Port Phillip Bay
• How working with almost no equipment led David to discover something he would have missed in a fully-equipped lab
• The role of AI (including a helpfully sarcastic session with Gemini) in checking assumptions and staying honest
• Biofilm's reach: washing machines, chronic wounds, hospital sinks, dairy farms, pipes, marine hulls... a near-infinite problem space!
• Why antibiotic resistance is the wrong frame, and what crustacean shell chemistry suggests as an alternative
• Where Utilium is headed, and which applications David is backing first

Keen to learn more about Utilium?

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• Patched Up

Still Curious? Check out what we're up to:

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This experimental and emergent podcast will continue adapting and evolving in response to our ever-changing environment and the community we support. If there are any topics you'd like us to cover, folks you'd like us to bring onto the show, or live events you feel would benefit the ecosystem, drop us a line.

We're working on and supporting a range of community-led, impact-oriented initiatives spanning conservation, bioremediation, synthetic biology, biomaterials, and systems innovation.

If you have an idea that has the potential to support the thriving of people and the planet, get in contact! We'd love to help you bring your bio-led idea to life.

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Kelp forests are disappearing into white rock deserts, and Henry Cole is wading straight into the problem—then bottling the solution. We bring you a frontline look at how invasive seaweed and exploding urchin populations can be harvested to restore reefs and transformed into premium skincare actives and agricultural inputs that people already want.

Henry’s journey runs from deep-sea fishing and oil-and-gas diving to helping build Victoria’s first commercial seaweed farm. The science landed; the scaling dragged. Meanwhile, wakame kept spreading, and long-spine urchins carved out barren 'Moonscapes' across Victoria and Tasmania. That mismatch unlocked a practical pivot: remove what harms ecosystems now and convert it into high-value products that fund more removal. Think wakame-derived fucoidan and fucoxanthin for barrier support and collagen-friendly skincare; think water-soluble chitosan from urchin shells replacing harsh antifungals in farms, improving seed protection, and adding film-forming performance to hair care and sunscreens. After extraction, the remaining biomass flows into fertilisers and foliar sprays to rebuild soil health—no waste, just new value.

We dive into shark gates and tuna ranching, government policy gaps, and why 'commercial capacity' is the missing link between plans and thriving reefs. Henry breaks down how authorisations, pro dive teams, vessels, and onshore processing create a true ocean-to-shelf pipeline, while partnerships with abalone divers, Surfers for Climate, and research groups steer work to where it counts. The vision is clear: within a decade, juvenile kelp returns, apex predators follow, and coastal towns gain new jobs in bioproduct manufacturing alongside healthier fisheries and tourism.

This is a story of logistics and hope, engineering and ethics, and a business model built on collaborative advantage. If you’re curious about the bioeconomy, seaweed science, chitosan, and how consumer products can drive real restoration, you’ll find a roadmap you can act on. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves the ocean, and leave a review to help more people find conversations that turn problems into products.

Keen to know more? Check out what Henry's up to here:

• Website
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• Henry's LinkedIn

Still Curious? Check out what we're up to:

• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Blog

Or sign up for our newsletter to keep in the loop.

This experimental and emergent podcast will continue adapting and evolving in response to our ever-changing environment and the community we support. If there are any topics you'd like us to cover, folks you'd like us to bring onto the show, or live events you feel would benefit the ecosystem, drop us a line.

We're working on and supporting a range of community-led, impact-oriented initiatives spanning conservation, bioremediation, synthetic biology, biomaterials, and systems innovation.

If you have an idea that has the potential to support the thriving of people and the planet, get in contact! We'd love to help you bring your bio-led idea to life.