Engagement year: 2021
Focus area: Ethiopia

Zafree Papers is an award-winning Ethiopian start-up founded by two women in 2017 to tackle deforestation through innovation. The company produces tree-free paper pulp from agricultural waste, creating a local alternative to imported wood-based pulp used by the paper industry.

True to its name, with zaf meaning “tree” in Amharic, Zafree Papers works with smallholder farmers who would otherwise burn wheat and barley straw after harvest. Instead, the agricultural waste is transformed into carbon-neutral, recyclable, and non-toxic paper pulp suitable for a wide range of paper products.

With an ambition to change the face of the paper industry with circular economy concepts, Zafree Papers’ impact is threefold by avoiding waste at the agricultural level, curbing deforestation at the production level, and securing local, eco-friendly alternatives at a commercial level. 

Read more about Zafree Papers here.