Greenfibra Labs
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Project Description
Greenfibra Labs is the European cradle for creating novel materials for packaging, marketing and communication extracted from plant fibres with one goal: Developing honest, natural, recyclable fiber-based solutions for tomorrow's generation: GREEN-PACKAGING & GREEN-COMMUNICATION. The huge challenge to honestly meet the requirements for a circular economy in Europe. Companies need to be supported in both the professional and the aestethic dimension.
Geographical Scope
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Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
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Description of the project
Summary
Greenfibra Labs is the European cradle for creating novel materials for packaging, marketing and communication extracted from plant fibres with one goal: Developing honest, natural, recyclable, fiber-based solutions for tomorrow's generation: GREEN-PACKAGING & GREEN-COMMUNICATION.
The huge challenge to honestly meet the requirements for a circular economy in Europe. Companies need to be supported in both the professional and the aestethic dimension. Greenfibra Labs covers the whole spectrum to help brands, designers, cultural institutions to benefit from a compentence center for natural fiber reseach, development and design. Our vision is to revolutionize the sector of packaging and communication materials by sourcing them sustainably and ensuring a cirular life cycle after the use.
As a team of specialists and practitioners from the fields of fiber technology, paper production, ecology, printing and packaging technology, sensor technology and green communication, we advise customers from the first idea to the finished product. From fiber research to the final product. Our team of packaging specialists, designers and production managers can transform the jointly developed new fibre material into shelf-ready packaging, a freshly printed brochure, a robust hangtag or a tailor-made direct mailing. For holistically environmentally friendly communication from a single source.
Key objectives for sustainability
Greenfibra Labs helps to transform the communication & packaging industries into real circular economies. This will contribute to reduce material flows ending in a grave and fostering material cycles to reuse waste as raw material for new products.
One important point is also to source alternative, natural fibers for novel pulp qualities with less carbon intensity: like paper made from 100% European hemp, produced without any dyes – pure nature. In addition, hemp improves the future recycling process, because the robust nature of the longfiber pulp enables increasing paper recycling cycles. A high fiber quality is crucial to ensure a multiple circularity at the end. We optimzied our machines and techniques to work with fibers from fast growing plants which mainly grow within one year. Especially for the textle sectors, the use of hemp paper offers a striking potential to make their communication and packaging arround products more sustainable. And all this togther with a high quality material transporting a convincing brand DNA.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
We are focusing on genuine ecological materials, but not grey an boring, but perfectly suited toestabilsih or support the green DNA of the brand or organiszation. The values we are tangible in the sense of look and feel - the material is also a design product with a clear, deeply aestetic and creative mission: transporting a message that steems out and ensures a real competitive advantage.
Key objectives for inclusion
Thanks to the learned fiber know-how, the modern industrial machines and the flexibility of our partner Gmund Paper, the jointly developed novel material can be produced on an industrial level, so we can generate cost savings and benefit from scale effects. As a consequence, projects do not only adress the exclusive sectors but especially offers alternative ways for standard products made for the broad public.
Results in relation to category
One project: Fukushima book made of rice straw
"Made in Fukushima" is a book made of rice straw from the decontaminated fields in Fukushima. It tells the story of the region, the disaster and decontamination, the farmers and their products. It is designed to help people understand that the decontamination method works and that the rice from Fukushima is safe by making the rice the medium and the data the understanding. In this project, the paper supports the documentation of what happened in a unique way.
Requirements for the fiber-based material
The topic should also be visible and tangible in the paper. 50% rice straw from the decontaminated fields of Fukushima should therefore be added to the paper pulp.
Result
A unique book made of special plant fibers, which perfectly visualizes the content and the core of the message and thus becomes an all-round experience when viewed and touched. Paper experts from Gmund Papier and the fibre experts from the Greenfibra team produced a unique paper that contains a visible part of the rice straw without distracting from the contents.
How Citizens benefit
The general wish and need to reduce waste is all across the society. Our team respects the enviroment arround us and is deeply driven to create materials that can be recyceled and are even biodegradable if these would end up in the landscape. So uncontrolled waste can be reduced.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
The fact that we combine all compentences needed - from a brand and technical perspective - to support agencies, brands and other organizations in establishing real green communication and packaging materials in the market, is just unparalleled.
Learning transferred to other parties
The potential is huge, as our reference projects prove successful results. Furthermore our efforts showcase that there is so much space for natural alternatives others from the use of plastics. We want to inspire creative people, brands and other organizations to rethink their strategies when it comes to design communication or packaging projects. Often the knowlegde about which material is really sustainable in the sense of sourcing, converting and a true suitability for recycling processes, is not given due to its complexitiy. We are actively taking leadership in the position to bring in knowledge and innovation into this sector.
