THE MATERIALS conneCTING
SUSTAINABLE FARMING
AND the FIBER INDUSTRY
(TEXTILE, PACKAGING, etc.)
ENCOURAGE
POSITIVE
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture is crucial to provide us food and other resources, but it is a sector which is currently facing many issues such as water scarcity, soil depletion or loss of biodiversity. The prevalence of intensive monocultures has proved to have a massive environmental cost, and that we need to change our farming model quickly.
In this context, we aim at promoting sustainable farming through annual plants such as hemp. Growing hemp has many agricultural benefits for the land, water and for carbon emissions.
Not only can hemp adapt to various conditions, but it grows quickly, generally without irrigation thanks to it deep roots, or chemicals thanks to its resistance to pests and diseases. Other positive traits include soil regeneration and the ability to absorb substantial carbon dioxide, playing a significant role in fighting climate change. Also hemp is cultivated in rotation cycles, improving pest resistance and increasing following crops yield, especially cereals.
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Currently in France, the first European producer, almost 25.000 Hectares are being cultivated and our goal is to increase this figure. For the production of Iroony® materials, we work closely with local farmers groups to aim at developing this up and coming culture, and thus promoting positive farming practices.
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In addition to hemp, we use other feedstock grown with sustainable practices, such as flax and giant reed. Our approach is to favor by-products for our sourcing, in order to optimize natural resources use and contribute to reinforce the farmers revenue model.
THE PROJECT
PROVIDE NEW
ECOLOGICAL MATERIALS
Thanks to sustainable feedstock and innovation, we provide new materials which combine performance, versatility and ecology : the Iroony® materials.
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In order not to compete with agricultural food production, we focus on hemp stalks produced as well as hemp seeds which are used for human consumption. This enables to keep farming efficiency and offer diversified revenues to farmers. We also work with flax straw and miscanthus.
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From this raw material, we have developed specific process to extract the chemical components of the biomass, in particular the cellulose, and turn it into various materials through different technologies, to make fibers, bioplastics, packaging and more.
Iroony® materials are adapted to fit a wide range of standard machinery systems used in the production value chains such as textile.
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Through Iroony®, since 2018, our goal is to offer both sustainable and reliable alternatives to cotton, oil-based (polyester...) or wood-based materials.
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