Public Funding for Chestnut Natural Capital Ltd

Climate change, net zero and the biodiversity crisis.....Chestnut Bio - the trading name of Chestnut Natural Capital Limited is creating materials and processing technology as well as being very self aware to the circular economy. Legislation and public opinion is driving change in the world of plastic. Nature based solutions require nature based materials. Take tree planting as an example; most tree planting in the UK is being increasingly impacted from high levels of plant failure due to drought, unseasonable weather and or a shortage of microbes and fertility to get the best level of plant productivity and survival. Chemical fertilisers are demonstrated to have a negative impact on natural microbial activity in the soil, slowly degrading the soil over time, requiring more and more chemical additives to support crop yields. The innovation is a significant upgrade in how seedlings are treated to get full productivity with multiple economic, environmental and societal outcomes. Replacing non-biodegradable fossil-based plastics is a key aim for CNC's (Chestnut Natural Capital Ltd.'s) work; the company has been working on their novel blends as direct drop-in replacements for existing oil-based plastics, using existing manufacturing technologies. The development of the novel encapsulation will enable wider plastic-replacement, while also contributing to soil and plant health through additional functionality. The mainstreaming of regenerative agriculture in the UK has created a commercial opportunity to raise productivity by looking after soils using nature-based solutions. CNC's brand Chestnut Bio will use the unique material developed and protected by patent to create a powder encapsulation system, from which several products for agriculture/forestry/horticulture/top fruit will be created. The initial product will be a solid capsule system impregnated with organic soil enhancers made from a natural blend of microbes and micronutrients and drought resistant powder - Aquagrain. After the decided upon time the capsules will degrade naturally to nothing more than CO2, water and inert minerals. Evidence gathered by Chestnut Natural Capital suggests that a move away from oil-based and chemical additions to soil, embracing nature-based solutions, will over a short period of time reduce input costs and increase outputs significantly increasing profit and productivity. It also contributes significantly to the journey to net zero and the reversal of the decline in biodiversity. Teesside is ideal for locating a bioeconomy based on natural sugars and microbes rather than oil, The freeport will allow Chestnut Bio to build capacity .

This project will look to overcome environmental plastic pollution that is very likely to arise from tree-planting activities, particularly in the forestry industry in the developed world (e.g. US, EU and UK). It will do this by providing more environmentally compatible products, with better end-of-life options, to the global tree-planting community (e.g. climate change mitigation) & commercial forestry. The product developed in this project is intended to deliver greater tree-planting productivity, particularly in developing world markets where developed-world best-practice is rarely adopted. It is the intention of Lead Partner, Chestnut Natural Capital Ltd, to promote best practice to global tree-planting communities, through exploitation activities and future global sales arising from project outputs. The consortium is developing new materials that are truly biodegradable on land and in the sea. These will be used in the manufacture of new sustainable products that replace existing non-biodegradable plastic products. This project will, therefore, prevent the release of persistent plastics into the natural environment. The project will create jobs, support UK Government strategy and help to meet UK Government targets for climate change, by; (1) planting trees in the UK and in developing-world markets (e.g. offshoring tree-planting targets), whilst (2) limiting plastics pollution arising from domestic and global tree-planting activities. Licensing of the technology, and technical services provided by the Lead Partner, Chestnut Natural Capital Ltd, will deliver a platform for rapid scale-out into foreign markets (Africa, South America and Asia), supporting the adoption of better and more sustainable tree-planting practices worldwide with the World Agro-forestry Association (ICRAF).