Metsä Board equips Finish circular economy company with fibers for animal bedding

20 Sep 2024 --- Soilfood is using fiber-based packaging waste from Metsä Board’s mills as raw material for animal bedding. The partnership between the two companies highlights the potential of circular economy practices to repurpose by-products from packaging production as the industry increasingly turns to innovative ways to manage waste.

Metsä Board’s mills produce fresh fiber paperboards, with fibrous by-products created during the manufacturing of folding box boards, food service boards and white kraft liners.

Soilfood is a Finland-based circular economy company whose goal is to replace virgin raw materials with recycled materials.

These fibrous fractions from mills, previously seen as waste, can now be used as a renewable alternative to traditional materials like peat for animal bedding.

Fiber waste processing 

Kaisa Malinen, quality and environmental manager at Metsä Board, says: “One of Metsä Board’s 2030 sustainability targets is 0 tons [manufacturing] process waste to landfill. Together with our partners, we work to find new uses for the waste generated in our production.” 

“Dry fibers for animal bedding are a good new example of how processed waste can be a useful side stream, where valuable raw materials remain in use for longer.”

Once the bedding is spent, it can be spread on arable land to enrich the soil’s carbon stock. These new bedding fibers were introduced to the market in the spring of 2024. 

“The availability of peat is projected to halve in the coming years. Developed from industrial wood fiber side streams, the new bedding is an option for producers that will also be available in the future. It has the characteristics of conventional bedding and is suitable for both cattle and horses,” says Soilfood CEO Eljas Jokinen.

Last year, Metsä Board and Soilfood teamed up to improve soil quality by reusing waste from packaging production. Soilfood produced wood-based soil improvement fibers from by-products of Metsä Board’s mills, which boost soil fertility, improve water retention and reduce phosphorus runoff from fields by up to 50%.

In the same year, Fiberwood raised €3 million (US$3.34 million) in late seed funding, led by Metsä Group, to develop its 100% ecological wood fiber insulation and packaging materials made from mechanical wood industry by-products.