Supporting a major climate change solution whilst reducing forestry plastic pollution

This project will look to overcome environmental plastic pollution that is very likely to arise from tree-planting activities, particularly in the forestry industry in the developed world (e.g. US, EU and UK).

It will do this by providing more environmentally compatible products, with better end-of-life options, to the global tree-planting community (e.g. climate change mitigation) & commercial forestry.

The product developed in this project is intended to deliver greater tree-planting productivity, particularly in developing world markets where developed-world best-practice is rarely adopted.

It is the intention of Lead Partner, Chestnut Natural Capital Ltd, to promote best practice to global tree-planting communities, through exploitation activities and future global sales arising from project outputs.

The consortium is developing new materials that are truly biodegradable on land and in the sea. These will be used in the manufacture of new sustainable products that replace existing non-biodegradable plastic products. This project will, therefore, prevent the release of persistent plastics into the natural environment.

The project will create jobs, support UK Government strategy and help to meet UK Government targets for climate change, by; (1) planting trees in the UK and in developing-world markets (e.g. offshoring tree-planting targets), whilst (2) limiting plastics pollution arising from domestic and global tree-planting activities.

Licensing of the technology, and technical services provided by the Lead Partner, Chestnut Natural Capital Ltd, will deliver a platform for rapid scale-out into foreign markets (Africa, South America and Asia), supporting the adoption of better and more sustainable tree-planting practices worldwide with the World Agro-forestry Association (ICRAF).