This recyclable boat is made of wool

ask for help With regard to the facts of New Zealand, they are likely to say, “There are more sheep than people.” Indeed, with 30 million sheep and 4.4 million humans, it’s no surprise that wool production is a major source of export earnings and national pride for the country . But the industry is in deep recession.Total wool exports fall 30.2% It was NZ$367 million (US$251.3 million) in the year to January 2021, and because wool prices are so low, it often costs farmers more to shear wool than it costs to sell it.

We’re not talking about luxurious merino wool here. The price of this microfiber is still high, but it only accounts for 10% of New Zealand wool products. About 80% of New Zealand wool is actually strong wool, a thicker natural fiber commonly used in rugs and rugs.

Changing tastes and the popularity of man-made fibres mean there is a surplus of strong wool in New Zealand – an estimated 1 million tonnes are being stored awaiting price increases – but 26-year-old inventor Logan Williams and his company cut edge, wants to make the most of this increasingly neglected material, chop it up and use it to make boats, knives, fences, and pretty much everything that’s currently made out of plastic.

Williams pioneered a method of adding processed, strong wool to polymers, including bio-based PLA (polylactic acid), usually made from cornstarch. The result is a material that not only uses less plastic, but is also lighter and stronger — and, crucially, the wool plastic can be processed by existing plastic molding machines.

“Wool is made up of keratin,” explains Williams. “It’s actually one of the strongest natural materials on the planet, so when it’s infused with polymer, it becomes really strong, but also lighter, so the more wool we can put into the polymer, the more the product The lighter it is, the less plastic will be needed.”

Produced at Shear Edge’s Hamilton facility in New Zealand’s North Island south of Auckland, the pellets can be used as an alternative to plastic manufacturing without the need to invest in new machinery. “Our particles can be universally applied to nearly all forms of manufacturing,” Williams said. “This includes injection molding, extrusion, rotational molding, and thermoforming. Our customers may only need to slightly change the temperature and torque of their existing machines, and it looks almost identical to the industry standard, except for the visible fibers.”

Shear Edge’s wool composite has passed Scion Research (A New Zealand government-owned company that conducts scientific research for the benefit of the country) Compliant with international ISO and ASTM standards, results show that wool makes composites lighter and stiffer, with higher impact and tensile strength.

Shear Edge is currently producing 4 tonnes per day and Williams hopes that by using sturdy wool he can provide farmers with a source of income for a product that is often considered worthless, especially since they can use parts of the wool such as the belly, flanks, s and debris that would otherwise be thrown away. Currently, the company’s formulations replace up to 35% of typical base polymers without performance degradation. It’s also worth noting that, unlike materials like fiberglass, it’s 100% recyclable.