From Farm to Fashion: Transforming Agricultural Waste into a Sustainable Leather Alternative

纤维素是自然界中发现的最丰富的生物聚合物。它的使用现在正在从以可持续发展为重点的开发过渡到提供跨广泛应用的技术解决方案。(Science Direct--Christian Gauss，Kim L.Pickering，Lakshmi Priya Muthe，2021)全世界都在研究它的用途。在荷兰、德国、斯堪的纳维亚半岛、芬兰、印度和美国，供应方和产品方的多家公司都在发现纤维素的多种用途，包括将农业废弃物加工成机织纺织品、微纤化纤维素、离子细胞(Lyocell的资源密集度较低的版本)、结构颜色和亮片。在英国，Biophilica开发了欧洲首个100%植物衍生皮革替代品Treekind(R)。它完全不含塑料，可堆肥和可回收。我们用绿色、农业和农林废弃物中的木质纤维素制作它。英国有600万吨绿色垃圾，全球有8亿吨，加上英国的550万吨绿色垃圾。重要的是要找到这种丰富资源的用途，以实现碳封存。Treeind(R)经过3年的研发，将我们的材料开发成一种坚固、多功能的皮革替代品，具有多种用途。我们对它进行了ISO测试，并与研究机构、可持续发展网络和行业领先品牌建立了合作伙伴关系。Biophilica是良好加速器时尚和可持续加速器的一部分，并筹集了私人资金。在此期间，我们建立了强大的品牌知名度和市场兴趣。在这个项目中，我们将与Minor Weir&Willis合作，评估他们的绿色和农业废弃物数量，从不同的原料创建TreeKind(R)样品，并探索在试点中连续生产，将农业废弃物原料转化为有价值的商品。

Cellulose the most abundant biopolymers found in nature. Its use is now transitioning from sustainability-focused development to provide technical solutions across a wide range of applications. (Science Direct -- Christian Gauss, Kim L.Pickering, Lakshmi Priya Muthe, 2021) Its uses are being researched all over the world. In the Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia, Finland, India, and the US multiple companies both on the supply side and product side are discovering the many uses of cellulose, including processing agricultural waste into woven textiles, microfibrillated cellulose, Ioncell (a less resource intense version of Lyocell), structural color and sequins.Here in the UK, Biophilica has developed Treekind(R), the first European, 100% plant-derived leather alternative. It is completely free of plastics, and compostable and recyclable. We make it with lignocellulose from green, agricultural, and agroforestry waste. There is 6 million tonnes of green waste in the UK, 800 million globally, plus 5.5 million tons of green waste in the UK. It is important to find uses for this abundant resource, to enable carbon sequestration.Treekind(R) has undergone 3 years of R&D, developing our material into a robust, versatile leather alternative with multiple applications. We have ISO tested it and built partnerships with research institutions, sustainability networks, and industry leading brands. Biophilica is part of the Fashion For Good Accelerator and the Sustainable Accelerator and has raised private funding. During this time, we have built strong brand awareness and market interest.In this project, we will work with Minor Weir & Willis to assess their green and agricultural waste volumes, create Treekind(R) samples from different feedstock, and explore continuous production in pilots, to turn agricultural waste feedstocks into valuable commodities.