Who Knew Wood Waste Was So Damn Sexy?
By Jane Palmer, CEO of Nature Coatings
Some product developers I talk to dismiss wood waste as “not sexy enough,” even as they race to innovate, hit bold ESG targets, wring their hands over toxic colorants, and watch competitors nab headlines with cleaner materials. What they don’t realize is that wood waste is a misunderstood hero in the materials world, hiding in plain sight—abundant, elegant, verifiable, and wildly under-leveraged by brands in search of a concrete sustainability win.
Sawmills and furniture plants generate millions of tons of chips and shavings each year. Most is burned and/or landfilled, belching CO₂. If it’s left to rot outside, the stored CO2 releases overtime. Turning that flood of waste into a commercially-viable material means reducing Co2 emissions and avoiding fresh fossil extraction. For product developers working with their marketing team, that’s not just innovative—it’s narrative gold.
BioBlack’s certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) de-risks innovation pipelines in a world where one bad green-washing headline can erase public trust. It’s a forensic audit that tracks every tree from forest plot to pigment drum. BioBlack also carries USDA BioPreferred status—no small feat for a black colorant—and appears on the agency’s public database as the only black pigment with that credential. So when reporters and regulators dig in, they find third-party paperwork, not greenwashing.
As we know, petroleum-based carbon black also creates an alphabet of toxins: PAHs linked to cancer, stray PFAS that never break down, and trace heavy metals that regulators flag on sight. BioBlack™ from wood waste, by contrast, lands in your products with a perfectly clean slate. No Proposition 65 warning required, no worries about REACH requirements, and no bright-orange “Health Hazard” pictogram on a drum at your supplier.
Levi Strauss and Co. was one of the first global labels to ship their premium garments printed and coated with our BioBlack™ and consequently, based on their success, have adopted BioBlack onto their men's denim lines. Chapelton Board launched Sustaina® Black, a compostable, food-contact-ready board that replaces fossil-coated black boards that appealed to confectioners, meat suppliers and prepared food brands. In cosmetics, the indie beauty label Pretty Smart Cosmetics swapped petroleum black for the award-winning BioBlack Beauty™ in its matte liquid eyeliner—now selling in Walmart. Each is in a different industry, but the pattern is similar: quick development and immediate brand-level storytelling that turns pigment into a visible innovation win.
Adopting innovative materials like BioBlack™ can be a personal career milestone for product developers and creates a competitive advantage for their organization with fewer regulatory risks, fast approvals, and products that meet both brand goals and consumer expectations. Not to mention that our pigments cost about a tenth of most plant-based inks.
So the next time someone says wood waste isn’t sexy, remind them that sexy is a sold-out product, a risk-free audit, and a material story that consumers want and can understand.