AUTHOR: Alba Alonso Adame, Wetlands International Europe
As previously seen in our last blog article, we need to develop robust value chains for paludiculture. But which applications of paludiculture actually exist in the market, and how could these markets be further developed?
Increasing bio-based products in Europe through paludiculture production
The transition to a sustainable and competitive economy in Europe requires the exploration of bio-based markets. The large-scale implementation of paludiculture could offer a valuable contribution to the development of these markets and the establishment of a sustainable circular economy.
Bio-based materials from paludiculture offer a sustainable alternative to conventional materials and plastics currently used in several markets. Paludiculture crops, such as cattail, reeds, peat mosses, sedges, alder, and reed canary grass, are used for very diverse purposes: building and insulation materials, paper and packaging, substrate and soil improvement products, energy, livestock bedding, fodder, medicine, food, and textiles.
The use of paludiculture biomass for construction and insulation materials production not only saves energy, but also significantly reduces the carbon footprint and presents enhanced properties compared to conventional materials.
Examples of companies working with paludiculture biomass
Here you can discover some examples of companies that are already including paludiculture in their products:
Ponda – A company in the UK using seedheads of cattail for textiles.
Fraunhofer IVV – A German company developing bio-based packaging products coming from paludiculture that could substitute plastic packaging products in a more sustainable way.
Leipa – A company which produces paludiculture cardboards using fibres from rewetted peatlands.
Otto Group – Producers of cartons containing 10% paludiculture biomass, aiming to increase the paludiculture biomass content in their products.
Kiteen Mato Ja Multa – A Finnish company which produces peat-free growing media and compost bedding applications from lake reed and cultivated reed grass to phase out peat use.
Zelfo Technology – A company that harvests reeds and other fibre sources for using them together with paper recycling waste as the basis of a construction board.
Paludiculture products for EU policy goals
The EU has a set of main goals addressing climate change challenges, such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% and net carbon removals of 310 million tonnes of CO 2 equivalent by 2030. As a pathway to move in this direction, the EU Bioeconomy Strategy, which aims for an increase in bio-based materials, maximises co-benefits in achieving these targets. Since bio-based markets are expected to increase, paludiculture could contribute to achieving the objectives of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy in providing bio-based materials.
The Advanced Materials Act will offer solutions for improving the environmental performance of products and processes and facilitating circularity in the industry sector. In light of this, paludiculture biomass applications should be considered in the Advanced Materials Act to ensure cohesion with other climate objectives and to facilitate a large-scale market development.
We, the EU projects PaluWise, Palus Demos, Paludi4All, FIBSUN, and PaludiAllianz communicated our support in the inclusion of paludiculture as an advanced material. This will further boost the upscale of paludiculture in Europe’s bio-based markets.
We got together to support paludiculture products, join us! 
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