This Ukrainian Company Turns Fallen Leaves Into Paper, Producing Paper Bags, Cardboard And Corrugated Packaging!

This Ukrainian company turns fallen leaves into paper, producing paper bags, cardboard and corrugated packaging!

Re-Leaf's patented technology extracts cellulose fibers from leaves taken from urban areas rather than forests, which is the basis for its recyclable and decomposable paper products. The special properties of leaf fibers also allow Re-Leaf to produce paper with a lower carbon footprint and water consumption than mainstream processes. A few days ago, Re-Leaf co-founder Alexander Sobolenko explained the development of the technology and its potential to affect the value chain of paper packaging.

01

From school lab to commercial product

The Re-Leaf project was originally proposed by Re-Lead CEO and co-founder Valentin Frychka, a middle school student at the time and a member of the Ukrainian Junior Academy of Sciences. With the opportunity to work in the school's chemistry lab, he and his teacher created a project to harvest high-yield cellulose from fallen leaves as a paper material.

In 2017, "after four months of work" involving "a series of experiments, trials and failures to obtain cellulose suitable for papermaking", Fletschka was able to demonstrate a prototype of paper, "on which you can write and draw , printing, and has good physical and mechanical properties".

According to Sobolenko, after successfully developing a paper prototype, Frychka demonstrated the project globally, including in the United States, South Korea and Kenya. As such, Fletzka was invited to "develop the idea from a simple study into a commercial project whose implementation will make it possible to produce papers on a commercial basis".

In September 2018, the project was transferred from the laboratory to an industrial enterprise as a platform for testing the technology on industrial equipment. In September 2019, the final formula for obtaining bulk and production paper for industrial scale implementation was outlined. "

In addition to paper production, the group is also working on testing packaging types of paper, such as egg cartons. Sobolenko said this gave them an "additional view" of the material's potential. In 2019, the project obtained the patent of "leaf recycling and papermaking technology". In 2021, the R&D and production enterprise Re-Leaf Technology Company was established. At present, the company's production capacity can reach 5,000 tons per year.

02

life cycle of leaves

Re-Leaf paper is made in four steps. First, fallen leaves are collected from city parks, squares and areas that require sanitation and sent to processing plants. The company doesn't collect from forests, which Sobolenko says is to "protect the integrity of the forest ecosystem," and fallen leaves support biodiversity and topsoil formation.

Once the fallen leaves are brought to the processing plant, they are washed and loaded into special chemical reactors that, under the influence of physical and chemical processes, extract the fibers from the raw material. This fiber forms the basis for the paper made later in the process.

In the third stage, the fibers are washed several times to remove foreign matter not used in papermaking, and then ground for the next step. Because no sulfur-containing chemicals are used, the washing process is very simple and inexpensive. Re-Leaf also does not use chlorine in its production process.

Finally, the fiber pulp is mixed with biofiller. At the mill, a machine "collects the pulp into solid canvas, which is then dried into rolls".

Re-Leaf's main product is paper, which can produce paper with densities ranging from 70 -300 gsm. Sobolenko serves paper in a variety of applications, including the production of bags, cardboard and corrugated products such as cardboard and cartons, and also as a buffer filler. Furthermore, according to Sobolenko, the paper can be "used as a wrapping paper for products" or "as an office paper for printing presses".

03

A total solution for paper production?

As for the environmental impact of Re-Leaf, Sobolenko envisions the technology as a substitute for cellulose derived from wood fibers, but instead provides "recycled cellulose production for paper/packaging". The company has announced a partnership with Canopy, a consortium aimed at protecting forests by collaborating across the value chain to develop alternative solutions and technologies for sourcing, producing, packaging and transporting paper-based goods.

Additionally, Re-Leaf's technology "addresses the use of plant waste in urban ecosystems." According to reports, every ton of paper produced by Re-Leaf corresponds to 17 uncut trees and the utilization of 2.3 tons of leaves. "Using a voluntary individual approach to determining CO2 emissions, we were able to determine a total of 2,357 tonnes of CO2-equivalent per 1 ton of finished product such as paper, a figure that is comparable to other papermaking technologies such as traditional wood-based papermaking and waste papermaking. technologies are compared.”

This comparison shows that Re-Leaf's paper production process reduces CO2 emissions by 33.22% compared to using waste paper to produce paper and 79.32% compared to using wood pulp to produce paper. “By closing the leaf litter processing cycle, our production emissions can be reduced from 2,357 tCO2e/t paper to 1,457 tCO2e/t paper, a 38.1% reduction compared to when using fossil fuels. However, this part of our project is currently being studied , requires further elaboration before it can be implemented.”

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Re-Leaf's technology also appears to reduce water consumption, "the simplicity of the leaf leaf composition as a raw material allows you to exclude complex chemical components" such as sulfur and chlorides from the process. Only 10-15 cubic meters of water are used per 1 ton of paper, compared to 230 cubic meters for wood. Likewise, the fibrous structure of the fallen leaves reduces the defibrillation and grinding effort, which in turn reduces electricity and gas consumption during production, also appearing to be lower results than using wood fibers.

Along the value chain, products made with Re-Leaf paper are "fully recyclable, with a 30-day biodegradation period. Each bag or carton made of fallen leaves can be used multiple times before breaking down easily. It will Completely decomposes in 30-40 days underground."

According to Sobolenko, this is an attractive feature for consumers: "Customers in retail stores want to see less plastic packaging, but more natural and biosafe products. We promote a philosophy , i.e. paper must be wood-free, and the people who own our products are proud to be able to contribute to forest conservation.”

04

What's next?

Re-Leaf is currently focused on expanding its production processes and products. "We want to take this idea to the rest of the world," Sobolenko said, "As a first step, we are looking for partners and customers in global sustainable companies to join our solutions and help us in the global packaging materials market make an impact.”

The company is also looking to expand its operations by setting up "production and sales offices" in suitable EU countries to simplify logistics and get closer to our target audience. We are in contact with national investment agencies in some Western and Nordic countries, and we will choose one or two jurisdictions with the most favorable conditions to start a business. "

Sobolenko concludes: "Ultimately, our vision is to make deciduous paper technology accessible to all continents. To do this, we will not be franchising, but establishing joint ventures with active partners around the world. We have already started Such negotiations with potential investors from France, Japan, the United States and Canada."