KarunaNews Story

Every year in Canada, 30 million tons of wheat straw left over from harvesting gets left on farmers’ fields. What if you could turn some of that waste into paper products and alleviate the pressure on forests in the process? The founders of Red Leaf Pulp say they’ve figured out how to make high-quality pulp from agricultural by-products rather than wood from trees, and they’re ready to start producing at scale. The company’s first-of-a-kind pulp mill, slated to begin construction in Regina, Saskatchewan, in the first quarter of 2026, will manufacture what it calls “climate-positive, non-wood pulp” using a process that consumes 95% less water and 70% less energy than traditional mills – all while running on electricity generated by burning biomass from its own waste stream. “We think there’s nothing in Canada that’s as sustainable as this project, in terms of what we bring in upstream and downstream benefits,” says William Walls, vice president of strategy and development. He claims that the carbon footprint of Red Leaf’s wheat straw pulp is a third that of regular wood pulp. Another good thing: Red Leaf doesn’t need to develop any equipment to run its patented process for “making the straw act like a wood chip,” Walls says. This new product is a welcome economic development in an industry impacted by declining supply of timber. By sourcing leftover wheat straw from farmers, they are engaging farmers in a circular economy.