Innovation

Until recent years, the ecologic footprint of toilets has been reduced with increased water efficiency, as worthy substitutes for ceramics have not existed. Woodio introduces a new era of bathrooms. Woodio is a Finnish eco-design company providing ecological bathroom furniture, wash basins, toilet seats, and bathtubs. The company was founded in 2016, and the first product was launched in 2019. The company employs roughly 40 people and has its production in Helsinki, Finland. The vision of Woodio is to become the world-leading eco-material brand. The company's mission is to fight against climate change without compromises in design.

The innovation of Woodio is the patented manufacturing mechanism of the products. The material consists of bioresin, fillers, and aspen chips and is, therefore, fully biobased. In the production phase, the benefits of the products are low energy consumption and CO2 footprint. The material's feature strengths are water and impact resistance, lightness, and mass producibility.

In 2015, The United Nations member states created and adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to create a better future (UN, 2020). By 2030, goal 12 aims to strengthen responsible consumption and production, of which responsible production is the SDG that Woodio is helping to solve. On top of that, Woodio also contributes to goal no. 7, which is affordable and clean energy, and goal no. 13, which stands for Climate Action.

Inspiration

The product's main inspiration was finding an alternative way to use scrap wood that would bind carbon rather than burn the wood for energy. The invention and the actual creation of product innovation came more or less as a surprise for the R&D team. The founders of Woodio were mixing different materials in their university's laboratory. After tests, the team noticed the material's excellent properties as the mixture was complex, solid, and waterproof. They decided to develop the material further and think about how to utilize it. Woodio wanted to start from the most harmful industries and therefore set the development to replace materials in the ceramics industry. It is simply one of the most harmful industries there is. Currently, the company is striving to expand the material offering in its portfolio by expanding to sustainable stone composites.

Overall impact

The construction industry is struggling to find more sustainable solutions to answer the needs that climate change is arising. As one part of the building industry, the traditional ceramic industry is also one of the heaviest industries when it comes to CO2 emissions and NOX / SOX emissions. The manufacturing of these products traditionally takes too much energy, and there haven’t been many challenges to shake the status quo. Woodio is tackling the main problem of how to produce the same or similar materials or products more sustainably. Woodio only needs a minimum quantity of energy for production, which in the long run can significantly impact the amounts that the whole industry is polluting, let alone the example it shows to other sectors. Woodio can get by with as little as 10 % of the CO2 emissions that traditional ceramics productions require. Keeping this in mind, the potential scalability is also interesting. What else could be manufactured with Woodio material?

Business benefit

Every year, there is a significant increase in demand for ceramic products. The industry has multiple negative environmental impacts through the emission of hazardous materials, air pollution, and massive energy consumption. Currently, Woodio is the only company in the world offering innovative alternative products made with their Woodio material to replace the use of ceramics in bathroom interiors, which provides them a unique advantage in the market. Woodio already has a patent related to the recipe, the material's content, and the production process. In addition, they also have pending patents in a total of six markets. Combining their sustainable materials and production methods, Woodio is a truly unique player in the market with the vision of replacing as many ceramic products as possible.

Woodio is not yet profitable, for the company has only existed for six years. However, internationally known councils have recognized and awarded their innovation with funding. In 2021, Woodio received a grant of 7,5 million euros from the European Innovation Council as part of its EIC Accelerator program, which allows the company to develop and scale up its production capacity and further diversify its product line. As a result of Woodie's ecological and sustainable manufacturing practices, its operations have been certified as meeting the most internationally known quality management standard, ISO 9001.

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Social and environmental benefit

The total impact of the ceramic industry is equivalent to the emissions of about 200,000,000 private cars. The sector also swallows vast amounts of gas and energy, let alone the amount of drinking water it consumes. Woodio is fit for mass production, which means that it consumes less, for instance, energy when one produces it. It is also made almost entirely out of renewable raw materials. Additionally, at the end of the product's lifecycle, it can be burned as energy. Thus, landfill waste is avoided. Compared to traditional bathroom materials, Woodio’s material requires less water and energy, as there is no need for high-temperature ovens for the final product. As a result of the innovative Woodio material and their sustainable manufacturing process, Woodio provides a positive environmental benefit through the significantly lower carbon footprint, which can be even 99% smaller. Their products' durability and low weight also reduce emissions and losses in logistics. Ultimately, the more Woodio material is used instead of ceramics, the more significant the impact will be in the fight against climate change.

Woodie's production is unique, thus making it impossible to find suitable employees from the labor market. They are currently planning a new factory in Helsinki, Finland, to keep their long-term employees and create new job opportunities. By doing this, Woodio can positively contribute to the community and the country's development.

Interview

Juha-Matti Luhtasaari, Chief Sales Officer