Ele Ludemann: More than carpets

Kāinga Ora’s decision to use wool carpets in new houses is good financially and environmentally.

Using wool shouldn’t stop there where there are a lot more uses for this wonderful fibre than in flooring.

There’s:

Wool insulation

Wool mulch for gardens

Wool Source has several wool products including powders, pigments and particles suitable for personal care, colour cosmetics, printing, paint, coatings and industrial uses.

Wool source has teamed with Karen Murrell to produce a lipstick coloured with wool keratin-based pigment.

There’s also money to be made from leaving the wool on the pelt:

Wilson and Dorset have sheepskin bean bags.

And Tertiary Extracts Ōtautahi is making money using collagen from sheep skins:

A Christchurch biotechnology start-up is using sheepskins diverted from waste to create a world-first collagen powder for the booming health and wellness market.

The company, Tertiary Extracts Ōtautahi, extracted protein from sheepskin to create its branded bioactive protein Ovitage that was then processed into a collagen powder and marketed in various health products.

The company was up for an early-stage innovation award at this week’s Fieldays event in Waikato against more than 30 others.

Founder and chief science officer Dr Rob Kelly said the company developed the technology to isolate and extract valuable protein ingredients from the sheepskin and make it into the unique collagen powder.

“The composition of our signature protein, which is ovitage collagen, is quite different to any collagen that’s been made before,” Kelly said.

“The amino acid profile is really quite different. People haven’t seen this before and the particular amino acids present leads to significant health benefits in areas that are in particular demand in New Zealand and overseas as well.” . .

This is turning what’s been waste into something that could generate wealth.

We have an abundance of sheepskin materials, between 6-7 million sheepskins are produced each year, and they currently don’t have good uses,” Kelly said.

He said most skins were by-products of the red meat sector that were low value and cost producers to dispose of.

“Sheepskin is an issue for the sector as a whole, and so we’re really trying to present a whole-of-industry solution,” he said. . .

Kelly said its Ovitage product targeted the health and wellness segment domestically in New Zealand and via export into the United States.

He said bovine and marine made up the bulk of the $15 billion global market for collagen, and demand was continuing to grow.

“We’ve put a lot of investment and science and research into the novel process that we’ve developed and we’re really excited by the market opportunities and the export opportunities,” Kelly said. . .

Wool has long been the preferred material for keeping babies warm and it can now be used at the end of life with several companies making wool coffins and urns for ashes.

Wool prices have been in the doldrums for too many years. Several farmers I know give it away for people to use for mulch around newly planted trees.

It shouldn’t be like this.

It’s a natural, renewable product and in New Zealand comes from free range sheep.

Dare we hope that the research that’s been and is being done for innovative uses like those I’ve mentioned will make people realise there’s a lot more to wool than carpets and hep wool become a sort after and financially rewarding fibre again.

Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.