Bark residue and willow pulp can be converted into safe food quality packaging material to replace fossil derived plastics.
What we know about willow as a material for bio-packaging
Moving from plastic to biobased alternatives is happening but the UK is a net importer of wood fibre.
The planting of 10,000 hectares of willow would mean a production of 658,000 green tonnes by 2035. Assuming a typical bulk density for raw SRC chip of 225 kg/m3 then this would give a figure of 2.92 million cubic metres of wood fibre.
In just 10 years a willow industry from a standing start could produce 29.5% of the current total annual UK timber production.
This increase in production could help reduce raw timber imports by 7.8%.
What we're exploring next
Varietal differences that enhance or inhibit production capability.
Ensuring that the bio-packaging material is food safe.
