Natural Fiber Welding’s remarkable natural-based circular materials replace plastic in anything from cars to clothing, while reducing carbon emissions and supporting regenerative farmers.
We produce over 460 million tonnes of plastic every year with just 9% being recycled. Millions of tonnes are dumped in the oceans and landfill, causing damage to ecosystems and wildlife.
Plastic is also responsible for huge carbon emissions. Despite this, we are “loyal to plastic” and it is a challenge to find viable sustainable alternatives to replace them.
Natural Fiber Welding aims to phase out single use and non-recycled plastic in many applications, replacing it with its natural-based materials. NFW’s founder, Luke Haverhals has a PhD in chemistry and set out to create a globally scalable solution that could make an economic impact. He founded NFW in 2015 to develop the concept and prototype materials.
By chemically engineering natural fibres and ingredients, NFW creates high performance materials that behave like plastic but deliver 10x lower carbon emissions than real leather, are circular, and compostable. NFW supports regenerative agriculture in its supply chain, displacing plastics in consumer products, and returning its biomaterials to the earth when they are finished with. As a result, this solution prevents microplastic pollution through the whole supply chain.
As well as a leather alternative, these materials include natural fabrics, plastic-free rubber outsoles and high performance foam for furniture, clothing and vehicles.
NFW uses regeneratively grown plants, which benefits farmers, the economy and the environment. They collaborate with farmers to expand regenerative practices and create opportunities for additional, diversified income from growing other crops cultivated alongside those used by NFW.
Most alternative solutions focus on a single material. NFW is unique as it produces several different products, offering a holistic solution to replacing plastic-based materials. It’s approach is summed up in three ground rules: start well, stay clean, end well.
Another benefit is these materials are designed to be used in existing production lines without any retooling. For example, synthetic rubber outsoles for footwear can be directly replaced with NFW’s PLIANT(TM) outsole in a shoe sole factory, which makes switching very easy. Their materials are highly adaptable and they have 40 brands including Stella McCartney, Patagonia and BMW. With 205 employees, they manufacture in Illinois (US) and sell globally.
They measure their impact on tonnes of carbon avoided, tonnes of waste diverted from landfill and water use. So far NFW has made 18 tonnes of materials, replacing 2,195 tonnes of plastics. This saved 82 tonnes of CO2 equivalent – for comparison a flight from London-Chicago-London emits 2.54 tonnes CO2. In the process, NFW has also supported 180 hectares of regenerative agriculture. They are working with their key partner, Terra Genesis, to build metrics around the social impact of transitioning to regenerative agroforestry, including benefits to farmer’s income.
Luke Haverhals, Founder and CEO, NFW
NFW is leading the way with its approach and these innovative materials. Their ability to scale is limited only by the capacity to produce enough materials to meet demand. They intend to transform supply chains so they become completely plastic-free.
They will make this happen by enabling other manufacturers to produce their products, whilst they maintain the relationship with their customers. This will give them the ability to expand globally – they have already licenced their technology to five international manufacturers and plan to license their IP in 22 countries across North and South America, Southeast Asia, North Africa, Europe, and Oceania
By 2030 they aim to produce 1,250 tonnes of NFW materials, saving up to 2,000 tonnes of CO2e emissions and sequestering 0.75kg of carbon for every 1kg of NFW latex produced.
