Key Points
- Impact protection without plastic: Crimped, elastic wool fibres absorb shocks, insulate, wick moisture and resist flames—matching or exceeding plastic bubble wrap in drop tests for many use cases.
- Minimal chemistry: Core lines (Wool Envelopes, Bubble Wool) bind fibres mechanically with no additives; select SKUs (Bottle Sleeves, Wool Boxes) still use <20% PLA as a binder pending full phase-out.
- PLA exit plan: Woola is re-engineering production to replace PLA with mechanical bonding across all products, validating home-compostability in real conditions and targeting third-party accreditation (e.g., TÜV Austria).
- Factory economics with a social edge: Paldiski (EE) site provides lighter-duty manufacturing jobs in a post-industrial town; main operational trade-off is higher EU transport distance as volumes scale.
- Scale thesis: Mission to cut global fossil bubble-wrap use by 50% by 2030, backed by simple designs, fibre-first formulations, and closed-loop thinking where wool layers bond to recycled paper for ready-to-ship formats.
Full interview with Woola
1. What specific properties of waste wool make it an ideal material for protective packaging, particularly when compared to traditional plastic bubble wrap?
Wool is a naturally high-tech material. Its properties come from the way its structure and chemical composition work together, along with the ongoing processes that happen inside the fibre.
Wool regulates temperatures, is soft, elastic, breathable, inflammable, fully biodegradable, repels liquids, has a high moisture absorption capacity, and has good insulating, noise-suppressing, and antibacterial properties.
As such, wool's protective properties are far superior to those of traditional plastic bubble wrap. However, for most use cases, the single most important factor is wool's elasticity, which provides protection from impact. Based on our tests, wool is at par or even more protective than plastic bubble wrap in this regard.
2. Could you delve into the chemical or physical treatments applied to the wool to enhance its performance in packaging?
For our Wool Envelopes and Bubble Wool, we use a proprietary production technology that binds the wool fibres together, without any chemicals or additives.
A few of our products – Bottle Sleeves and Wool Boxes – still include a small amount of PLA (polylactic acid, synthesised from corn) as a binding agent.
3. Could you elaborate on the process of transitioning from using PLA as a binding agent to a fully wool-based solution? What hurdles do you anticipate? Can you discuss the specific binding techniques used to combine wool with recycled paper in your products?
The biggest hurdle is the same one that all innovators will know: when you venture to build something that’s never been built before, you do not know what kind of challenges you will face. You simply have to approach each challenge with relentless tenacity and a healthy dose of optimism. Luckily, our product development and production teams seem to have endless wells of those two resources.
When it comes to binding wool to recycled paper, we have yet to find a solution that would be better than PLA (although we have not given up just yet).
In the specific case of our Wool Boxes, for example, where the protective wool layer has to stick to the cardboard surfaces, we use a middle layer that’s a mix of >80% wool and <20% PLA.
Our product development team is constantly looking at new and innovative ways to solve such product challenges. Our long-term goal is to get rid of PLA in all of Woola packaging.
4. What are the main operational challenges in managing a factory in Paldiski, and how do you turn these challenges into opportunities?
Our choice of Paldiski was intentional. It’s a small town with just 3,680 inhabitants, located on the northwest coast of Estonia. The town of Paldiski has a unique history: it fell under the Red Army in 1939 and was turned into a Naval Base. In 1960, the city was completely closed to the public. All development in the region was halted and the city was closed off with barbed wire until 1994. We’re happy to support its redevelopment in the 21st century.
Paldiski is home to many manufacturing companies, but most specialise in metallurgy and heavy machinery. This means the jobs these companies offer are physically demanding. Our processes are not, so we can provide suitable jobs to people who can’t work in such positions — in other words, we’re able to support the chronically unemployed population in the region.
Operationally, it’s just a 1-hour drive or train ride from our headquarters in Tallinn, so the factory's location has never caused any real internal operational challenges. As we have grown our sales across Europe, though, having a factory in Estonia does come with its challenges in terms of the cost and impact of transportation.
5. What role does the integration of polylactide acid (PLA) play in your current manufacturing process, and how will the shift to 100% wool alter your production techniques?
We have used a small amounts of polylactide acid (PLA) as a binding agent mixed in the wool, for sealing the edges of the Wool Envelopes and Bottle Sleeves and for attaching the protective wool layer to carton in the case of Wool Boxes.
As we gradually shift away from PLA in all of Woola packaging, we’re completely reinventing how we produce the products. In the new production lines, the focus is on mechanically binding the wool fibres.
6. How do you test the biodegradability of your products, particularly with the goal of phasing out PLA by 2025?
We conduct compostability tests in real-world home environments in Estonia to ensure our materials break down effectively in typical household composting conditions. This approach allows us to generate results that are meaningful and useful to consumers who compost at home.
As we work toward phasing out PLA from all our products, our goal is to validate our materials’ biodegradability through rigorous in-house testing while also pursuing third-party certification from a recognized body such as TÜV Austria. Achieving this accreditation will provide independent verification of our commitment to home-compostable packaging solutions.
7. How do you engineer the microstructure of waste wool fibers to optimise their performance in impact absorption and thermal insulation within your packaging products?
We do not—wool is a naturally high-tech fibre. Nature has engineered its protective properties, such as elasticity, water repellency, and resistance to temperature extremes.
We simply make sure this wonderful resource is not wasted.
8. What are the most significant trade-offs you face in balancing biodegradability, durability, and cost when developing new formulations for wool-based packaging materials, and how do you approach these compromises?
For us, sustainability is always the priority. We focus on long-term environmental and economic viability when balancing biodegradability, durability, and cost in our wool packaging.
Durability is key—our packaging is designed to meet customer needs—but every aspect must be carefully balanced to ensure the final product is both sustainable to produce and cost-effective for our customers.
In terms of specific trade-offs, this typically means keeping designs, prints and material selection minimal.
9. Looking ahead, how do you envision Woola’s innovations in wool-based packaging influencing the broader packaging industry, and what legacy do you hope to leave in the fight against single-use plastics?
Woola’s mission is to cut 50% of global fossil fuel-based bubble wrap usage by 2030.
We acknowledge that we cannot replace all plastic packaging alone, so we are also relentlessly working to create a movement that will help replace plastic in areas where our solution isn’t yet suitable for replacing plastic (such as food). We do this mainly by creating content and building a brand that inspires positive change.
