Barbecue fans love firing up the grill on balmy summer evenings. However, the cookout comes at the expense of nature: The charcoal used contributes to the massive destruction of forests. 

Coffee is the favorite drink in Germany. According to the German Coffee Association, 86% of all adults in Germany drink it every day or at least several times a week.

Decorating finger and toe nails is not a recent trend. The oldest proof for decorated nails is about 5000 years old and comes from China.

Wood has many different properties. There are obviously no limits to new ideas for products and areas of application. This is demonstrated by a young company from Wuppertal.

Plastic is produced from meadow grass in a resource-conserving manner using a recirculation process. Sustainable and environmentally friendly.

In October 1997 Mercedes Benz introduced the A-Class to the market. With this first generation of the A-Class, Mercedes pioneered minivans. Further generations and adaptations followed, since 2013, biobased plastics have also been used.

Along with nitrogen, phosphorus is one of the most important components in fertilizers. As the world's population grows, so does the demand for food and therefore for phosphorus. However, the resources are finite.

Straw, in former times hats were made out of it as well as baskets or drinking-straws. It is still used for insulation in house building. Recently it has also been used for cleaning agents.

Coffee grounds are not noxious, but they do produce a lot of waste. The founder of the Berlin start-up company Kafform combined this so-called waste with biopolymers and formed a cup from it.

The times when people with celiac disease (gluten intolerance) had to renounce beer are over. Due to specific methods, the gluten protein can be separated out, after the brewing process.

Lego bricks are still made of plastic, which consumes a lot of oil. However, there has been a recent change in thinking. In addition to manufacturing products from bio plastics, by-products accrued from the wood industry are gaining in importance as a basic raw material for toy manufacturers.

Some consumer goods manufactures are increasingly trying to replace conventional plastics with biobased plastic. By doing this, the dependence on petroleum is reduced and carbon dioxide can be saved.

When brewing coffee, less than ten percent of the coffee bean’s aroma is released. The rest ends up in the compost bin. These coffee grounds, however, are an ideal raw material for the production of sustainable textiles.

Every year, millions of tonnes of milk, which cannot be used for consumption, are accrued. Fibres can be made from milk proteins. In comparison to the production of cotton, this process uses considerably less water. 

Olive leaves are a waste product from olive harvests and are frequently burned as green waste. They contain valuable ingredients with which biodegradable and skin-compatible premium leather can be produced.