European cities give their dead leaves to this startup to make shopping bags and paper

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Using dead leaves instead of healthy trees to make paper: That is the idea of ​​the Ukrainian startup Releaf Paper.

While still at school, founder Valentyn Frechka used his passion for biochemistry to find new ways to produce cellulose, the most important component of paper.

After a failed experiment with grass and straw, he discovered that it was possible to extract fiber from leaves.

After creating a working prototype, he moved to Paris due to the war in Ukraine and founded Releaf Paper with his partner Alexandre Sobolenko.

Is paper made from leaves better for the environment?

Through a combination of chemical and mechanical processes, Releaf produces one ton of cellulose from 2.3 tons of dead leaves.

Normally, 17 trees would be needed to produce the same amount.

Cities across Europe give Releaf leaves collected from their streets instead of burning them, as is common practice in many places.

“We only work with the leaves we get from the cities because we cannot use the leaves from the forest. It is not easy to collect them from the forest and there is no need because there is an ecosystem there.

“In a city it is a Green Waste that should be collected. This is really a good solution because we keep the balance: we get fibers for paper production and we get lignin back as a semi-fertilizer for the cities to fertilize the gardens or trees. So it’s a win-win situation,” explains Frechka.

Releaf’s process involves removing all solid components from the leaves, drying them and then processing them into pellets. This allows the company to store the raw material all year round and ensure a continuous production cycle.

The pellets are used to produce special fibres that form the basis for the paper. The resulting pulp is pressed and made into sheets of Paper.

What impact does paper production have on the environment?

Releaf Paper estimates that its process causes 78 percent fewer emissions CO2 than traditional production and consumes 15 times less Water.

“Leaf-based paper decomposes in soil within 30 days, while regular paper takes 270 days or more to decompose,” says Releaf Paper.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the paper industry is responsible for 13–15 percent of total wood consumption and uses 33–40 percent of the industrial wood sold worldwide.

Is paper made from leaves as durable as regular paper?

The company sells paper from 70 to 300 g/m², suitable for a wide range of applications, from packaging paper (bags, e-commerce envelopes, etc.) to cardboard packaging (corrugated boxes, egg cartons).

The startup produces around three million shopping bags per month and its customers include L’Oréal, Samsung, LVMHLogitech, Google and Schneider Electric.

The young Ukrainian will open its first commercial factory just outside Paris in July and hopes to eventually have production facilities all over the world.

With a capacity of 5,000 tons of leaves per year, the first site, partly funded by the European Union, will collect green waste from the city Paris.

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Based on Station F in Paris, the young entrepreneur, who has already won several awards since starting his company, is one of three finalists for the European Patent Office (EPO) Young Inventor Award 2024. The results will be announced on July 9.

Watch the video above to learn more about making paper from dead leaves.