The market for both products is big. Sustainability is on the rise within the building industry, but right now the challenge for Zostera is the gathering and the price of the eelgrass.
– Even if the material is a natural resource, the gathering of eelgrass is a slow and costly process. And as eelgrass hitherto has only been used commercially for the restoration of the few seaweed houses on Laesoe, the gathering has not been streamlined, Kirsten Lynge explains.
This process is part of the ongoing work in Zostera. Kirsten Lynge and Gunnar Agerskov Madsen hope that eg. municipalities with shorelines, who nowadays pay to get rid of the eelgrass, see a better use for the natural resource as part of sustainable products.
– Actually, eelgrass releases a lot of CO2 when it lays rotting on the shore. When used for insulation mats or roof to ridges, it does not. That is another strong case in favour of using eelgrass for lasting products, Kirsten Lynge says.
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