A company produces paper, boxes, and shopping bags from dried leaves collected from the streets. This process emits nearly 80% less CO2 and uses 15 times less water than traditional paper production.
The paper industry uses over 30% of the wood sold globally. Through a combination of chemical and mechanical processes, a Ukrainian startup extracts fibers from leaves and produces a ton of pulp from 2.3 tons of dried leaves. It would take 17 trees to obtain the same amount, reports Euronews.
Instead of being burned, dried leaves collected from the streets of several European cities are sent to the company Releaf, which transforms them into paper.
"We only work with the leaves we receive from cities because we cannot use leaves from forests. It is not easy to collect them from forests, and it is not necessary because there is an ecosystem there," explained the company's founder, Valentin Frecika.
"In a city, there is green waste that needs to be collected. It is actually a good solution because we maintain balance - we take fibers for paper production and return lignin (an organic substance, the second component of wood after cellulose, ed. note) to cities as semi-fertilizer to fertilize gardens or trees. So, it is like a win-win model," he added.
The process involves removing solid compounds from leaves, drying them, and transforming them into pellets. This allows for storing the material throughout the year and ensuring a continuous production cycle.
The pellets are then transformed into a special fiber that forms the basis of the paper. The resulting material is pressed and rolled into paper sheets.
Leaf paper is better for the environment
Releaf Paper estimates that its process emits 78% less carbon dioxide and uses 15 times less water than traditional paper production.
"Paper made from leaves degrades in the soil in 30 days, while the decomposition period of regular paper is 270 days or more," the company stated.
According to the environmental organization World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the paper industry accounts for 13-15% of total wood consumption and uses 33-40% of the total wood sold worldwide.
Leaf paper preferred by global giants
Releaf Paper sells paper weighing between 70 and 300 g/m² that can be used for various purposes, from packaging sheets (bags, envelopes, etc.) to cardboard packaging (corrugated boxes, egg cartons).
The company produces approximately three million shopping bags per month, with clients including L'Oréal, Samsung, LVMH, Logitech, Google, and Schneider Electric.
In July, the Ukrainian firm will open its first factory near Paris, partially financed with European funds, and hopes to have production units worldwide.
With a processing capacity of 5,000 tons of leaves per year, the first factory will transform the dried leaves collected from the streets of the French capital into paper.
T.D.