Valentyn Frechka, a 23-year-old Ukrainian scientist, has been shortlisted for the European Inventor Award 2024, a prize for young inventors launched by the European Patent Organization. He was nominated for developing a technology for converting fallen leaves into environmentally friendly paper.
This was reported by the European Patent Office (EPO).
The technology developed by Frechka allows producing 1 ton of pulp from 2.3 tons of fallen leaves, which would otherwise require cutting down 17 trees.
The jury of the European Inventor Award 2024 recognized his promising work in the field of circular economy and towards the realization of one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Ukrainian was selected from among more than 550 candidates for this year's competition.
The EPO told the story of Valentyn Frechka in a video:
The idea to fight deforestation by processing fallen leaves appeared to Valentin Frechka at the age of 16 during his trip to the Carpathians. Therefore, he became a member of the Small Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and began developing his own technology. In 2019, it successfully passed tests on specialized equipment, and the first industrial batch of paper from fallen leaves was released in October 2020.
In May 2021, EcoPolitic reported that the startup Re-leaf, founded by Frechka, launched the sale of bags of fallen leaves.
Later, in December 2022, guy received a grant from the European Commission for €2.5 million to build the first factory.
In July 2023, Valentyna Frechka's startup Releaf Paper launched the production of eco-packaging from leaves in France.
Releaf now sells its products in many European countries, having well-known customers among international brands.
