New Startup Turns Leaves into Paper

Paper is one of the foundational products of the modern world. From books to toilet paper, almost everyone in the world uses paper on a daily basis. Now, a new company, founded in Ukraine, but based in Paris, France has found a way to make paper more environmentally friendly. Instead of using tree pulp and wood to make paper, it uses leaves.

15 billion trees
According to ZME Science, 40 percent of the 15 billion trees felled annually are used to produce pulp and paper. That is a lot of trees. In addition, the paper-making process uses both sulfur and chlorine, which are expensive, and more importantly use a lot of water and produce greenhouse gas emissions.

This is where Releaf Paper comes in. EuroNews reported that Releaf Paper is the brainchild of Valentyn Frechka. Frechka’s interest in biochemistry led him to try and make paper from straw and grass. When that failed, he moved on to leaves, and found success. 

So how does it work? Cities from around Europe collect the leaf litter from their streets, and send them to Releaf Paper.

“We are working only with the leaves that we are getting from the cities because we cannot use the leaves from the forest. It’s not easy to collect them in the forest, and there is no need because there’s an ecosystem, Frechka told EuroNews. 

Then, using a mix of mechanical and chemical processes the company is able to create one ton of cellulose, the material that paper is made of, from two point three tons of leaves. It would take 17 trees to make that amount of cellulose. The material leftover from the process, called lignin, is then sent back to the cities to be used as a sort of fertilizer.

“In a city, it’s a green waste that should be collected. Really, it’s a good solution because we are keeping the balance – we get fiber for making paper and return a lignin as a semi-fertiliser for the cities to fertilize the gardens or the trees. So it’s like a win-win model,” Frechka said. 

According to ZME Science, Releaf Paper claims that its process uses 15 times less water, and emits nearly 78 percent less greenhouse gasses than the traditional paper producing model. 

In addition, regular paper takes about 270 days to decompose once it is discarded. Paper made of leaves, on the other hand, only takes about 30 days. 

Paper bags to boxes
The company makes a wide variety of paper products: paper bags, corrugated boxes, paper rolls, packaging paper, e-commerce packaging, and even just plain fiber, reported mpakter.

According to ZME Science, the company produces three million paper bags a month, and sells  its products to a number of large companies, including Samsung, Logitech, and others. The hope is that in the coming years, they will be able to expand to other countries worldwide.

Sometimes making products more environmentally friendly is just a matter of seeing the leaves for the trees.