Renowned German toilet paper maker Hackley has turned to coffee waste to stay afloat after the country’s suffocating crisis and high electricity prices.
And just two years ago, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the company took advantage of consumers’ scramble for their products as they struggled to stock up on essentials.
But with the health crisis receding and the Russo-Ukrainian crisis beginning, electricity prices have risen significantly, prompting Hakley to file for bankruptcy recently.
Innovation may now be the key to survival on the scene as the European food industry produces huge amounts of ground coffee each year and Hakley has found a way to turn waste into material for making toilet paper.
Meanwhile, Karin Jung, the German company’s marketing director, said the first batch of ground coffee toilet paper was produced last week at the company’s Düsseldorf plant.
“The goal is for 20 to 25 percent of coffee beans to be paper, replacing wood pulp,” Jung added, noting that the company is working to reach that level.
“It doesn’t look like much, but it means fewer trees to use,” said Jung, whose company filed for bankruptcy in September due to rising energy prices.
The price of wood pulp, which is in high demand in China, the world’s largest consumer, has risen rapidly since 2020.
This isn’t the first time the company has taken an unusual approach to toilet paper. “Two years ago, she used grass grown in the Rhineland to make this paper,” said Jung, who runs the company with her husband.
Source: AFP.