SDG9 startup of the week: TGSeed Smart Wood 1MS

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SDG9 startup of the week: TGSeed Smart Wood

"We wanted to combine the agriculture by-products with the plastic to create a material that has the ability to substitute wood. " founder Andreas Hellmann

05.03.2020.

Due to deforestation and population growth, many countries do not have enough construction materials anymore.

At the same time, the plastic waste challenge is a depressing fact in many of these countries.

What is Smart wood?

We developed Smart Wood which is synthetic wood made from recycled plastic waste and natural fibers.

It is a great solution for the demand, it looks like wood and instead of natural timber it will last much longer.

How did it all start?

We are young entrepreneurs looking behind the "normal" business. How can we meet the demand and still benefit the environment and the people who need perspectives? In 2012 the founder of this project, Eng. Andreas Hellmann came to Kenya for the first time. This visit changed his life and from that time on he has focussed on creating a solution to benefit the wonderful country Kenya. This is in regards to the environment and the people in rural areas who need employment in a sustainable way. As an engineer, he found a way of transforming by-products from agriculture and plastic waste into valuable products.

Our raw materials like post-consumer plastics and agriculture by-products are bought locally. That means we create new income possibilities for farmers, households and waste pickers, etc. On the other hand, the demand for wood in Kenya is huge and the area of forests has decreased rapidly.

Andreas developed for years a solution to combine the agriculture by-products with the plastic to create a material that has the ability to substitute wood. Fortunately, these products have advantages over wood and we can produce them for affordable prices. If you imagine a farmer has to fence his field which costs a lot of money and after some years he has to replace the posts. Our products will support him to save his money and give him the opportunity to invest in fertilizers or new techniques and to secure the food supply at the end of the chain. Why? Because our products don´t rot and are long-lasting. So the farmer fences once and can be focussed in farming :)

Smar wood Mission

To satisfy our customers with high-quality products and create positive impacts on the environment and the community as much as possible. Smart Wood will not just offer a great portfolio of products with customer benefits. Smart Wood reduces the plastic waste mountains but will also lead automatically to new jobs and income opportunities and will fight poverty in developing countries.

With our activities and products, we take the responsibility to create positive impacts on the environment and to reduce global warming. With our products, we also offer the alternative to timber and to reduce deforestation.