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Now you may look at sheep's wool with new eyes

Wool to soil: the innovative project that aims to take root in rural Portugal

Wool to soil: the innovative project that aims to take root in rural Portugal

Alentejo is Portugal’s breadbasket and now sustainability may become part of its image, too

It turns out that sheep wool isn’t only good for sweaters and socks. The fibres can actually be converted into an organic source of fertilizer in the form of pellets. Plus, it’s renewable.

Last week, at the monthly meeting of the Serra de São Mamede Natural Park co-management committee, a German couple presented their idea about starting a company that would produce the pellets. The natural park is located in the region of Alentejo, in eastern Portugal, which is well-known in the country for its agriculture and cattle raising.

What’s contained in the idea?

The park’s management duties are divided among the four small municipalities of Castelo de Vide, Arronches, Portalegre and Marvão. The authorities there see this as an opportunity to boost sustainability in the local agricultural sector and play host to an innovative idea that could also create some jobs.

For António Pita, who is the chairman of the committee and also the mayor of Castelo de Vide, the great advantage of this initiative is the use of a by-product of the animal that, often, “has no value and is not used”.

Speaking to Lusa news agency, the company's spokesman, Ricardo Oliveira, explained that the wool is transformed into biological fertilizer through a machine that grinds the wool into tiny pieces of between 4 and 7 millimetres. The resulting mass then gets compacted under pressure into pellets and sanitized at 100 degrees temperature.

The resulting product can be applied directly into the soil. This eco-friendly renewable resource delivers plenty of nutrients for plants that stimulate growth, such as nitrogen, potassium, and phosphate. Wool also has very good water storage properties – sheep would otherwise be soaked through to the skin when it rains.

Mayor Pita explained that this would be a win-win type of situation as the German entrepreneurs would like to acquire the natural.pt seal for the pellets, which is an environmental seal for Portuguese products made in a protected area. The project is currently in its licensing phase.

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