#  Upcycling Wool Ecologies 

 



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#### ✨ Upcycling Wood Ecologies

While the global sheep population has grown in recent years, reaching 1.2 billion in 2021, producing around 1,949 million kg of raw wool, demand for wool in the fashion industry has declined due to increased competition from synthetic and plant-based fibers, limited market expansion, and rising production costs. This leads to significant waste of sheep wool—up to 95% of raw wool in some regions—often illegally dumped or burned, exacerbating environmental harm.

Upcycling Wool Ecologies converges these market forces—rising wool production and decreasing wool usage in the fashion industry—toward a single need: an urgent increase in existing building insulation at scale. This research aims to develop a retrofittable building cladding system composed of wool-biocomposite panels. This solution seeks to shift part of the construction market away from carbon-intensive cement and PVC siding.

   ![Wool-biocomposite panel](/sites/g/files/omnuum6296/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/2025-01/PXL_20241219_194225610.jpg?itok=GbPkt0kT) 

 

Wool-biocompostable panel**Contact:** Leonard Palmer, Donald Oloruntobo, Jonathan Grinham