Humans cut down 15 billion trees annually, and about 40 percent of those (nearly six billion) are used to produce pulp and paper. This makes the paper and pulp industry one of the major buyers of harvested wood and the biggest contributor to deforestation. 

“Unsustainable pulp and paper operations have contributed to the conversion of high conservation value forests, illegal harvesting, human rights and social conflicts, and irresponsible plantation development,” the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) stated in a report.

Unfortunately, paper products are almost irreplaceable for now. From your company’s brochure to your toilet paper roll, many things you use daily come from paper and pulp.

However, there are ways to make paper without cutting down trees.

For instance, a startup called Releaf Paper has developed an innovative method to manufacture paper from the dead leaves that naturally fall from trees. Their approach enables them to produce one tonne of cellulose (raw material for paper and pulp) from 2.3 tonnes of dead leaves.

If they used wood to produce the same amount of cellulose, they would have to cut down 17 trees.

Turning urban green waste into paper 

Dead leaves are a biological waste that is particularly challenging to manage. Cities have to collect this green waste from parks and streets because it can reach waterways, where it decays into phosphorus promoting algae growth. The leaves can also clog gutters and sewage systems. Typically, the dead leaves end up in landfills or are burned, resulting in pollution and carbon emissions. Only a small fraction of dead leaves can be composted.

“The average city collects at least 8,000 tons of leaves annually, and the total potential of Europe exceeds one million tons only from urban areas,” Releaf Paper claims.

This is where the Releaf Paper team saw a wonderful opportunity. However, they couldn’t afford to collect green waste in large quantities on their own. So they decided to join hands with the waste collection authorities in many cities across Europe.

As a result, instead of burning the dead leaves, several European cities are sending their green waste directly to a facility run by the Releaf Paper team in Paris. Here the leaves are washed, mixed with some biological fillers (which the team didn’t reveal), dried, and then turned into paper bags, notebooks, boxes, wraps, gift items, and various other products.  

“In a city, it’s a green waste that should be collected. Really, it’s a good solution because we are keeping the balance – we get fibre for making paper and return lignin as a semi-fertiliser for the cities to fertilise the gardens or the trees. So it’s like a win-win model,” Valentyn Frechka, co-founder and CTO of Releaf Paper, told Euronews.

Frechka came up with this idea while he was studying biochemistry in university. Along with his co-founder, Alexander Sobolenko, he conducted several failed experiments before they finally made a usable paper out of dead leaves in 2017. 

In the following years, they continued to improve their paper manufacturing process. While they were in the process of starting their company, the Russia-Ukraine war broke out and this is when they shifted to Paris where they eventually founded Releaf Paper. 

The many perks of making paper out of dead leaves

Traditional paper and pulp manufacturing processes involve the use of sulfur and chlorine as they improve the quality, lifespan, and appearance of the final product. However, the addition of these chemicals also leads to increased cost, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. 

Releaf Paper claims that their paper manufacturing process requires 15 times less water and emits 78 percent less carbon dioxide compared to the traditional approach, as it doesn’t use these chemicals.

“Because we do not use sulphur-containing chemical components, the washing process is very simple and low cost,” Alexander Sobolenko, co-founder and CEO of Releaf Paper, said.

Paper made from dead leaves also biodegrades faster than regular paper. For instance, while the latter takes 270 days to degrade in the soil, the former only lasts for 30 days. Also, Releaf Paper does not collect leaves from forests, they only use green waste from cities.

This is done to “preserve the integrity of forest ecosystems, where fallen leaves support biodiversity and the formation of topsoil,” Sobolenko added.

At present, Releaf Paper produces three million paper bags every month and processes 5,000 tonnes of dead leaves annually. They’re already selling products to LVMH, BNP Paribas, Logitech, Samsung, and various other big companies. In the coming years, Frechka and Sobolenka also plan to further increase their production capacity by opening more plants in other countries.   

“We want to expand this idea all around the world. At the end, our vision is that the technology of making paper from fallen leaves should be accessible at all continents,” Sobolenka notes.