Grass fibre as raw material for innovative grass paper products: the new economic and ecological resource for the european paper industry
With GRASPAP Grass Fibre Creapaper introduces a highly innovative, sustainable and cost-efficient alternative raw material for the European paper industry. About half of the 400 million tonnes paper produced worldwide every year are based on wood pulp. This consumes about 40% of the global industrial wood harvest. Moreover, transport and processing of the wood consume a lot of water, chemicals and energy. Costs and impact to nature are severe. Creapaper provides an unique solution to this problems by introducing Grass Fibres, produced by a novel patented mechanical process, as a new resource for the paper industry. This innovative material will reduce the raw material costs of paper mills by 50-70 % (compared to wood pulp) and is compatible to their standard production equipment. Grass Paper products made from these fibres are free of noxious substances, printable and have a distinctive sustainable, yet premium appearance. They are therefore very attractive for food and non-food packaging, tissue and print media applications. Several awards in the packaging industry and first orders from large, well-known brands confirm these USPs of Grass Paper products. While Creapaper's primary customers are paper mills, also brand owners and retailers will be addressed. This will increase the demand for Grass Paper and Grass Fibres rapidly and allow a fast scale-up in the European key markets. According to independent experts, the grass fibre material has the potential to become the paper industry's third raw material source besides wood pulp and waste-paper. Creapaper currently installs the first grass fibre production line and will transfer the stationary production process into a versatile mobile solution during this project. This will decrease the dependence on weather conditions during the grass harvesting as well as allow the extraction and commercialisation of vegan proteins from the grass in the future, making the whole process even more sustainable and cost-efficient.