Sustainable paper can be produced from fallen leaves, while new furniture can be 3D printed with the help of sawdust.
Now, a startup from Serbia is focusing its attention on a different waste product, using bark from trees to manufacture bioplastics. The team buys the typically incinerated bark from timber companies.
It is ground to a fine powder, before being mixed with coffee grounds and other biomaterials. This mix is then pressed into granules.
Using injection moulding technology or thermal pressure these are, in turn, processed into stable packaging and sustainable, single-use tableware. The manufacturing technology for the material is currently patent-pending.
Elsewhere, farm stubble is being turned to packaging and sawdust could soon also be a viable polystyrene substitute.Â
