No matter what is happening in the world, babies don’t stop being born and they need nappies… and lots of them! One baby will use between 4500-6000 nappies until they’re potty trained, each will take over 500 years to break down* and with each nappy containing 1 cup of crude oil in plastic* and 300,000* nappies thrown away every minute around the globe, we have a massive environmental crisis to solve.
This was the catalyst for NZ business Woolchemy to step in to solve an environmental problem and create an innovative solution to New Zealand’s declining wool industry, which the founders have experienced first-hand having grown up in a sheep farming family. Woolchemy has developed a patented super absorbency technology and wool nonwoven materials that supercharge strong wool to be highly wettable and absorbent. They are the first in the world to bring wool into the single-use hygiene market that includes nappies, menstrual products, incontinence aids, and wipes which together is a $USD78B global market.
Woolchemy hopes to supply wool materials to the global manufacturers of hygiene products and other applications. This model maximises positive impact on reducing plastic waste, increasing demand for strong wool, and higher prices going to woolgrowers. Woolchemy is in the final stages of commercialising its materials in 2022 and there are several collaborations with brands underway. Woolchemy is currently raising capital to see them through to commercialisation this year and then to grow their global operations. Their plan is in motion and they expect to be using up to 20,000 tonnes of strong wool fibre annually within 5 years. Their vision is to create a globally recognised wool technology company with aspirations to be a USD$1B company.
To learn more, go to woolchemy.com.
* REFERENCE: Ellen McArthur Report ‘A circular Economy for nappies’