The eco-friendly vine clips are made from biodegradable polymers and waste materials sourced from wood processing. Photo / Clinton Lloyd
The eco-friendly vine clips are made from biodegradable polymers and waste materials sourced from wood processing. Photo / Clinton Lloyd
A Christchurch company is set to export biodegradable vine clips to fulfil demand from global winegrowers for more sustainable practices on their vineyards.
PolyNatural says it has begun taking commercial orders for its eco-friendly vine clips from South Australia and from vineyards across New Zealand.
Made from biodegradable polymers and waste materials sourced from wood processing, the vine clips are designed to replace traditional plastic clips that are used to hold nets over ripening grapes to keep birds and other pests away.
About 30 million of these plastic clips are used by the New Zealand wine industry every year.
Vine clips and netting are essential to wine-growing operations for pest management and to prevent fruit loss.
However, after six to eight weeks, nets are removed and clips fall to the ground.
This leaves a growing pile of non-degrading plastic littering vineyards that, over time, contribute to microplastic pollution, the company says.
With the viticulture industry keen to adopt more sustainable practices and stamp out plastic waste, Scion began developing a faster-degrading vine clip made of grape marc and bioplastic.
The eco-friendly vine clips went through extensive product development, with trials on vineyards in New Zealand.
The final product came five years after the first prototype clip was created by Scion scientists, in collaboration with PolyNatural’s parent company EPL.
Led by researchers Dawn Smith and Stephanie Weal, Scion trialled different prototypes in the field, testing numerous formulations before arriving at the right mechanical and physical properties.
In 2020, EPL took up the challenge of improving the clip even further and getting it ready for production at scale.
PolyNatural general manager for sales and marketing, Gareth Innes said the research partnership with Scion had been valuable.
PolyNatural general manager for sales and marketing, Gareth Innes, with one of the eco-friendly vine clips. Photo / Clinton Lloyd
“The technology and materials that we’re using now are different to what they were five years ago, but we couldn’t have achieved what we have if it wasn’t for the work that Scion did in those early trial stages.”
The vine clips are 100 per cent biobased using renewable materials that have no petrochemicals or toxic additives and come from waste generated from processing wood.
That waste is then fermented using micro-organisms and shaped to create a durable clip that can fully degrade in the right soil conditions.
PolyNatural says it is also working on eco-friendly ties for the kiwifruit industry.
“There’s huge market demand for our prototype as we estimate the industry uses about 100 million plastic ties every year to hold their vines down,” Innes said.
The vine clips are biodegradable. Photo / Clinton Lloyd
A number of New Zealand winemakers have successfully trialled the clips, including Cloudy Bay Vineyards in Central Otago and Marlborough.
Central Otago Vineyard Manager Derek Beirnes described them as the “perfect product.”
“Each clip does what it needs to do, whilst being environmentally friendly.”
As well as targeting the Adelaide wine-growing region, PolyNatural is planning to export its vine clips to Canada and France, with support from New Zealand Trade & Enterprise.
Innes said winegrowers around the world were “hungry” for sustainable products.
