Shear Innovation: Valorising wool waste using biotechnology to enhance horticultural peat-free growing media
SilviBio is a Livingston based biotech company dedicated to helping growers grow more plants, more sustainably. To do this, they design and create novel and patentable peat-free growing media blends that have improved performance, such as better water retention and transplanting outcomes.
This project focused on creating novel peat-free growing media blends using locally available raw materials and UK sourced byproducts.
The team created growing media with better performance including higher germination and water retention. Improved water retention, in particular, can help growers save on fertigation costs and decrease fertiliser run-off through lowered watering needs.
Project outcomes:
Patentable technology
Enabled early sales with key grower clients
Generated international interest from growers and biotech operators looking to licence this project’s outputs
Supported additional promising innovative technologies
