{"id":2423,"date":"2023-07-06T16:26:10","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T16:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=2423"},"modified":"2023-07-06T16:26:10","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T16:26:10","slug":"paper-makers-and-users-look-to-greener-frontiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2423\/paper-makers-and-users-look-to-greener-frontiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Paper makers and users look to greener frontiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the industry consumes lots of trees and produces plenty of waste, grass packaging and new construction materials point toward a more sustainable path.<\/p>\n

By<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0TOM CASSAUWERS<\/p>\n

Switzerland is renowned for its mountains, cheese and chocolate. Less well known is how Lindt, a Swiss chocolate producer, is packaging the delights in greener ways.<\/p>\n

The paper packaging used for some of Lindt\u2019s products has green fibres running through it. More than just a splash of colour, the green is actual grass to replace some of the wood normally used to make the paper.<\/p>\n

Forest strains<\/strong><\/p>\n

The change is the result of years of research carried out by German paper manufacturer Creapaper and partly funded by the EU in a project called\u00a0Grass Paper<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018Stress on forests is too high,\u2019 said Michael Schatzschneider, Creapaper\u2019s chief financial officer. \u2018So we wanted to find an alternative for packaging, which might seem like a low-value product but it alone is responsible for millions of tonnes of paper production every year.\u2019<\/p>\n

The paper industry is one of the world\u2019s largest users of wood,\u00a0accounting for 33-40%<\/a>\u00a0of global trade in the sector. In\u00a0Europe<\/a>\u00a0alone, the pulp and paper industry provides 179 000 jobs and contributes \u20ac21 billion to the EU\u2019s gross domestic product.<\/p>\n

Worldwide paper production reached a record 415 million tonnes in 2021, according to the\u00a0International Energy Agency<\/a>. On top of that, the resulting waste often goes unused.<\/p>\n

Just as paper production can reduce its environmental footprint, waste can too by being deployed for a range of applications.<\/p>\n

Waste not<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Paper production is going up,\u2019 said Juan Jos\u00e9 Cepri\u00e1, project manager at Spanish construction company ACCIONA Infraestructuras. \u2018This puts more pressure on our forests and generates more waste material. We have reached the stage where paper mills don\u2019t know what to do with it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Cepri\u00e1 coordinated a separate EU-funded project called\u00a0PAPERCHAIN<\/a>, which ran for four years until August 2021, to tackle the waste trouble. One of the places was Slovenia, where paper waste was used in a construction initiative.<\/p>\n

Because Slovenia is mountainous, it often needs to build stabilisation walls to prevent landslides, according to Karmen Fifer Bizjak, head of the geotechnics and traffic infrastructure department at the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, or ZAG.<\/p>\n

Usually, construction companies use gravel to build such barriers. In this case, however, the project used a new material called\u00a0MUDIPEL<\/a>, which is made out of the waste\u00a0\u2013 mainly paper ash and sludge\u00a0\u2013 taken from a local paper mill.<\/p>\n

These materials currently serve no purpose and would have been thrown away.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was a challenge to transform paper sludge and its ash into a construction material,\u2019 said Fifer Bizjak. \u2018The new material had to work in the same way as the old. And, on top of that, we had to prove that it wasn\u2019t harmful to the environment.\u2019<\/p>\n

Building material<\/strong><\/p>\n

For example, the project had to find the optimal combination of ash and sludge as well as determine how much the material needed to be pressed together to work most effectively.<\/p>\n

MUDIPEL achieved what it was set out to do. Fifer Bizjak said the new material is\u00a0already being used in other construction projects.<\/p>\n

\u2018We proved it was possible,\u2019 she said. \u2018We showed engineers and construction companies it\u2019s a viable product.\u2019<\/p>\n

It also lasts as long and has the same mechanical properties as the traditional material, according to Fifer Bizjak.<\/p>\n

PAPERCHAIN developed five of these processes across Europe.<\/p>\n

In Portugal, the project turned waste products such as lime mud into base materials for concrete and asphalt production, which was used to make roads in the country. In Sweden, the project used dregs from paper waste to prevent harmful chemicals released during mining from seeping into the soil.<\/p>\n

\u2018We have already constructed more than six kilometres of road trials with paper waste,\u2019 said Cepri\u00e1. \u2018Some of these technologies are ready for large-scale use. We can now finally start using the waste from paper mills in socially useful ways.\u2019<\/p>\n

Grass paper<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in Germany, Creapaper is also ready to launch its grass-infused product following the completion of the EU-funded project, which ran from October 2018 through November 2020.<\/p>\n

The company is based near the western city of Bonn and has around 35 employees.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re always improving our technology,\u2019 said Schatzschneider. \u2018But today the most important thing for us is to convince brands to use paper made from grass.\u2019<\/p>\n

Creapaper uses grass to make a pulp that can then be used by mills to produce paper or cardboard, which is mainly sold as packaging material. It\u2019s generally a mixture of 30% grass pulp and 70% wood, which could save large numbers of trees.<\/p>\n

From the point of view of supply, grass is a good alternative to wood, according to Schatzschneider.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s widely available everywhere,\u2019 he said. \u2018It\u2019s a global resource. Farmers are already used to harvesting it as well, in bales of hay. We can produce a lot of it in a minimally invasive way.\u2019<\/p>\n

On top of that, producing grass pulp is more sustainable than making the equivalent wood pulp, according to Schatzschneider. One tonne of grass pulp requires about 10 litres of water, whereas the same amount of wood pulp would take around 1\u00a0500 litres.<\/p>\n

The result for Creapaper is a green-tinted packaging paper. In this area, the company is searching for large commercial deals like the one with Lindt.<\/p>\n

Creapaper is registering ever-increasing production and sounds confident about future growth.<\/p>\n

\u2018We are heavily scaling right now,\u2019 said Schatzschneider. \u2018There’s still some way to go, but we are convincing more and more brands to look at our paper.\u2019<\/p>\n

Research in this article was funded by the EU. <\/em><\/p>\n

More info<\/p>\n