Wood-based composite reduces carbon footprint of household appliances
Uusi puu – The New Wood Project shows what wood can do. The project promotes wood-based innovations and provides information about them.
Finnish Mysoda was the first company ever to launch a household appliance made of a wood-based material. The year was 2020, and the appliance in question is the Woody sparkling water maker.
Made almost entirely of renewable raw materials, the Woody sparkling water maker is sold today in many European countries, the USA and Asia. In 2024, Mysoda launched another model with a glass bottle.
The wood composite used in the sparkling water maker is made of surplus material from the wood and pulp industries: sawdust and tall oil. This means that producing the raw material does not increase forest fellings.
The wood composite replaces the fossil-based plastic in the body of the sparkling water maker. The properties of the wood composite equal those of fossil-based plastics, and it can be processed using the same technologies and moulds. Thanks to the wood fibres, the finished surface has the natural appearance and feel of wood. The mild scent of wood brings a whiff of nature to the kitchen and gives away the secret of the appliance.
’We have taken a considerable leap by giving the consumer options that are ecologically sustainable. The excellence of wood composite lies in its durability and its carbon footprint. Using a renewable material allows us to reduce the carbon footprint of the product by as much as 50–70 percent, depending on how the comparison is made. The material is also recyclable,’ says David Solomon, CEO of Mysoda.
The raw material of the Mysoda sparkling water makers comes from Finland, while the appliance is manufactured in China.
’Our production chain is carefully thought out, so as to consider the ecological impact as comprehensively as possible. We want to offer every consumer the opportunity to buy our product at a reasonable price. If, for example, the product was made in Europe, the production costs would force us to price the product much higher than is now the case, and therefore the impact on eco-friendliness would be considerable smaller,’ Solomon says.
’When designing the Woody sparkling water maker, we began to think whether plastic could be replaced by wood. We wanted to challenge all aspects of the production to make them as eco-friendly as possible and yet make a durable and beautiful appliance,’ says Solomon.
’Eco-friendly materials are often seen as weak. Compared to fossil-based plastic, however, the wood composite has many good properties. In addition to beings durable, the wood material acts as sound insulator, and this is especially significant for sparkling water makers,’ Solomon continues.
Solomon expresses the hope that other manufacturers of household appliances will follow the example of Mysoda.
