Turning an environmental problem into a commercial success, Wilding & Co clears and controls the spread of wilding pines in Central Otago, and distils them into essential oils.
Wildings pines, a native of North America, are strangling New Zealand's natural environment and grow at the rate of twenty times faster than in their native homeland.
Moreover, the spray used to control the spread of these invasive unwanted trees is toxic in itself making for a double whammy cause for concern. The Wilding team have developed a socially minded business model that harvests young wildings, and transforms them into high-value essential oils used in fragrances and other consumer products for the perfume, essential oil and anti-bacterial cleaning products industries.
With a tag line: Making Scents of Nature, clearing and controlling the spread of wilding pines across 800,000 hectares of native New Zealand landscapes is just one of the many positive environmental impacts Wilding and Co creates.
"We are in the unique position that a consumer can know with certainty that every purchase directly funds the environmental cause of clearing wilding pines and an investor knows that his/her investment is ethical and profitable," says co founder Mathurin Molgat. Wilding's business model also increases the value and viability of land currently infested with wilding pines, reduces potentially harmful toxins entering the environment and intends to increase awareness of the wilding pine issue in New Zealand.
Wilding and Co hopes to create a self-funding business model of wilding clearance with multiple oil sales channels. "We want to scale the size of the company to match the size of the problem."
