In connection with the question posed in the headline, the company Metsä Spring has submitted a request to that effect to the EU. Metsä Spring is part of Metsä Group.
Metsä Group recently announced that it will continue to explore the possibilities for the industrial production of wood-based textile fibre. Several tens of millions of euros have already been invested in the research project. The company's representatives believe that the European Union's regulation on the sustainability of products should encourage the production of textile fibre from renewable raw materials.
“EU decision-makers ought both to know and to acknowledge that ecological products can also be made from renewable raw materials, not only from recycled materials,” Niklas von Weymarn (Niklas von Weymarn), chief executive of Metsä Spring, the company that produces the wood-based textile fibre Kuura*, explained to the forest.fi portal.
The Ecodesign Regulation** came into force in July 2024. The EU is now drawing up ecodesign criteria and requirements for various product groups, textiles among them. Under the ecodesign strategy, the EU Parliament has expressed the wish that by 2030 all textiles sold in the EU should be made largely from recycled fibre. The new requirements for products sold within the EU are expected to take effect in 2027.
The Kuura textile fibre plant
At the end of February, Metsä Spring announced that it had begun the pre-engineering work for its first commercial textile fibre plant. Spruce and pine wood (cellulose) sourced from responsibly managed forests is to be used to produce the fibre pulp.
“Our greatest concern and caution relate to the fact that the European Union places particular emphasis on the use of recycled raw materials, which would mean that renewable raw materials obtained from the forest might not be included in the criteria. We want to make sure that this aspect is included in the criteria too,” says von Weymarn. He points out that at present only one hundredth, or one per cent, of used clothing is recycled to make new garments: “Setting the use of recycled materials as the only ecological option is neither realistic nor far-sighted. It would mean that almost no garment could earn ‘points’ for being good for the environment.”
Kuura fibre is suitable for clothing and technical textiles, and it is produced without the use of fossil resources.
Polyester is a source of microplastics
According to Metsä Spring, the impact of Kuura fibre on global warming is considerably lower than that of cotton, for example. Von Weymarn stresses that Kuura fibre breaks down in the environment: “When textiles made of polyester are washed and dried, microplastics are released and enter the environment, and the human body as well. They break down very, very slowly. By contrast, if microparticles from Kuura fibre enter the environment, natural processes break them down completely.”
According to the European Parliament, more than 14 million tonnes of microplastics have accumulated in the oceans to date as a result of washing synthetic materials. Von Weymarn considers the EU's new environmental requirements acceptable as far as Kuura fibre is concerned, provided that the environmental criteria are assessed in a standardised way: “In that case we will be fine too.”
Kuura has received 50 million euros of investment so far
Metsä Group began developing the wood-based fibre several years ago. The first experimental plant started operating in 2020 in Äänekoski, in central Finland, and the sum invested in the project to date is 50 million euros. The company expects to complete the pre-engineering work by the summer of 2026; the factory could start operating no earlier than 2029, and it could be located either in Äänekoski, or in Kemi, in northern Finland.
The company plans to sell its output on the global textile fibre market, two thirds of which is currently taken up by fibres based on petroleum products. If the wood fibre business proves profitable, it will be expanded in future, von Weymarn confirms.
The textile industry's negative impact on the environment has to be reduced. Every second, enough clothing to fill a lorry is thrown away worldwide. The fashion industry is responsible for 8–10% of global carbon dioxide emissions, which is more than the emissions from international air travel and maritime freight transport combined.
Alongside Metsä Spring, cellulose-based textile fibre is also being developed by the Finnish listed company Spinnova***, which promises to cut carbon dioxide emissions by roughly three quarters (74%) and to reduce water consumption almost entirely (98%) compared with traditional textile industry processes.
* https://www.kuura.io/
** https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/LV/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ:L_202401781
*** https://spinnova.com/
https://forest.fi/article/will-wood-based-garments-be-defined-as-eco-friendly/