2020 Edition

Medulla is a material research into the soft rush in which different elements of this dominant and usually unwanted plant are developed into materials like paper, textile, foam & a construction material.

The soft rush is mostly known for the Japanese tatami mats for which the plant is cultivated in Japan and China. In most other world regions with a moderate temperature, the plant grows as a weed and appears in grasslands, forests & swamps.

In the Netherlands, the soft rush covers areas of many thousands of hectares. Farmers want to get rid of this invasive weed because its presence makes the grasslands less valuable for agriculture purposes. Next to that, nature conservation authorities want to get rid of the plant because the soft rush brings along a lower biodiversity. Therefore the Dutch State forestry removes thousands of kilos of the soft rush out of these areas each year.

Currently there is no high valued application for the soft rush strands that are removed from nature. But by separating the pith from the fibres new circular materials can be developed that lead to new application possibilities for the soft rush. The strong fibres of this plant can be developed into materials that are well suited for high- and low-end packaging like paper, (corrugated) cardboard, rope, nonwovens and textiles for sacks, bags and boxes.

The pith of the soft rush is a foam. This material possesses lightweight, shock-resistant and insulating properties that make it suitable as a circular packaging material. The packaging material can be applied as tangled noodle strings or can be compressed into a foam block without adding any bonding additives. These circular materials can partly function as a substitute for the toxic material polystyrene, which is often used as packaging material in the form of beads and boxes. In addition to that, the foamy pith can be compressed in different densities, which also makes it suitable as a circular lightweight construction material that can be applied in furniture.