Most wool does not get the use it should. In fact, a lot of wool is burned or shipped for mostly very low-grade uses elsewhere in the world. What a waste of such a beautiful natural product. We therefore asked ourselves what is in wool, what we can use as a natural raw material and in what way. And so this initiative was born, around which by now a consortium has been built with involved organizations from the entire wool chain. Ecoras is the driving force behind this initiative and works together with Het Hollands Wol Collectief, Fibershed Nederland, LTO Nederland with the Sheep Farming Chain Organization, Pleed and The Knitwit Stable, in addition to House of Design and ReBlend, from their role in the Groningen Werkt Circulair project.
The impact and value of wool
“First of all, we want to do a comprehensive but more precise life cycle analysis of wool, based both on the current situation, and on local wool that is processed locally into other products,” Jonathan Salt-Waninge explains. Jonathan is a Biobased expert within Ecoras. “We want to give a realistic picture of the impact of wool and the value that wool has as a material. Then we want to explore what we can do with wool as a natural raw material.”
This project has another interesting side branch, namely a research project that Ecoras wants to do together with Next Genners on the wool of Texel sheep. Next Genners would like to make the beautiful, long fibers from the Texel wool suitable for textiles. “In fact, this type of wool has a high micron value, which makes it not suitable for use as textiles. Then you get the itchy sweater no one wants to wear,” Jonathan laughs. “But if we can lower the micron value, that is, make the wool fibers thinner, like the wool of the Merino sheep, then it can be done. Surely that would be great.” The consortium has currently applied for funding for this research project. Would you like to get involved? Then contact Jonathan Salt-Waninge at emailadres j.salt@ecoras.nl or by phone 06-58758170.