OutNature and LEIPA break new ground with straw fibres

At our site in Schwedt/Oder, we are building a new, innovative straw fibre production plant together with our partner OutNature, a brand of PreZero (Schwarz Group). This marks an important milestone for sustainable paper production and opens up exciting prospects for the future.

Straw offers a number of advantages as a raw material for fibre production. As a by-product of agricultural grain processing, it does not require any additional cultivation areas. Furthermore, cultivation in Germany contributes to short transport routes, which reduces emissions. Straw fibres make it possible to dispense with fresh wood fibres and, thanks to their excellent strength properties, contribute to the production of comparable paper qualities.

‘Straw is an excellent way to bridge the gap between quality loss and the demand for fresh wood fibres,’ explains Michail Ginsburg, Managing Director of OutNature. "In addition, we have already worked successfully with LEIPA in the past on the topic of paludi biomass as members of the toMOORow initiative. Together with LEIPA, we will unlock the potential of regionally available agricultural by-products, thereby promoting the overall social benefits for customers, farmers and natural cycles," he adds.

LEIPA plans to use straw fibres in combination with waste paper at its Schwedt/Oder site. We currently process over one million tonnes of waste paper per year in Schwedt to produce various types of paper for packaging and graphic applications.

The core of the straw fibre production plant consists of a BioTrac plant from Valmet. Test results show that the strength properties of straw fibres significantly exceed those of waste paper, which is an exciting development.

‘Our partnership with OutNature opens up promising opportunities for even more sustainable paper production,’ says Antonio Bellante, CEO of LEIPA. ‘As pioneers in the field of recycled materials since the 1970s, we are delighted to be working with OutNature to realise this innovative project today. Straw fibres offer a sensible and sustainable way to expand our product portfolio. As our first marketable product, we want to produce a white-coated kraftliner substitute.’

In addition to the sustainability aspect, the use of straw fibres has another positive effect: farmers in north-eastern Germany in particular will benefit from the additional value added generated by this new use. This is another sales market that should please many agricultural businesses
and customers.