Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - StrawToGold (Revolutionizing the packaging industry with a patented treatment to lignin fibres)

Teaser

„The environmental impact of plastics and marine waste is one of the biggest challenges of our time.“ Karmenu Vella, member of the European Commission for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. The EU plastics strategy of January 2018 shows that the world needs new...

Summary

„The environmental impact of plastics and marine waste is one of the biggest challenges of our time.“ Karmenu Vella, member of the European Commission for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. The EU plastics strategy of January 2018 shows that the world needs new materials with less impact on the environment replacing existing plastics such as Styrofoam. With an update oft the plastics strategy end of 2018 it was even decided to take single use Styrofoam container for food from the market.

STRAWTOGOLD is a novel sustainable and highly efficient insulated packaging alternative to Styrofoam. Landpack, the creator of STRAWTOGOLD, for the first time is turning the agricultural side product, straw, into a material which can be used as an insulation material without the use of adhesives. Landpack has patented processes to treat straw fibers under certain conditions to transform its natural polymers into a soft and malleable material which can then me molded into any form desired. Thanks to the natural properties of these biopolymers which are resilient to pressure and are extremely stable, the final product has excellent insulation and shock absorption properties superior to the most ubiquitous insulation material on the market, Styrofoam. The most challenging parts of developing our technology has already been achieved and has given us the birth of our existing production line.

We have a goal to drastically increase our annual production and make it ready for worldwide commercialization. While the existing production line works reliably well, we see opportunities to speed up by factor 2 and automate more processes to create a perfect model for scaling our plants to other geographical areas while also ensuring the highest quality of our products. Scaling our business model will require continuing to build the strong base we’ve acquired in the e-food sector by increasing our sales throughout Europe and expanding into other industrial sectors.
The feasibility study has assessed the practicality of these three elements: to optimize our production plant, expanding in the e-food sector and enter new sectors.

Work performed

The study has assessed this plan in terms of:
Technical activities: How we can improve process time and optimize line components; what it would cost; how long it would take us and; how we can mitigate any risks and ensure the quality of our products while doing so.
Commercial activities: What our IP strategy should look like; confirming our freedom to operate; strengthening our sales in the e-food segment throughout Europe and developing a sales strategy and dissemination plan for moving into new sectors.
Financial activities: What are the funding requirements for carrying out our commercial plan; what is the cost-benefit analysis for new sectors and using all this information to improve our business plan.

Final results

Until now there is no ecological and price competitive alternative to Styrofoam on the market with similar or enhanced properties in terms of insulation and shock absorption. Using the agricultural side product „straw“ which is available in abundance worldwide and can be sourced from local farmers, a real bio based circular economy can be set up for one of the mostly used plastics worldwide. Using STRAWTOGOLD technology the primary energy consumption can be reduced by 98% compared to Styrofoam. The local farmers have additional income with great margins (30%) on selling their unused straw. And no additional farming land is needed therefore. Multiple scientific studies agree, that 30% of the straw can be taken from the fields without any negative effect on the soil. In Europe this is more than 80 million tons every year. 1% of this amount would be enough to replace all Styrofoam used for packaging in Europe! It can be summarized that Landpack has the technology to substitute Styrofoam by a truly ecological alternative, where local farmers, local consumers and local industry benefit. A technology that can be scaled worldwide. This feasibility study is the first step for the international scaling of STRAWTOGOLD.

Website & more info

More info: https://landpack.de/en.