In your efforts towards greener winemaking, you may well already use natural pest control and avoid harmful chemicals, but eco-friendly practices don’t stop there. If sustainability is one of your top priorities, you can go one step further by opting for green vineyard supplies.
Cavi Group are committed to making vineyards more sustainable places by designing products for vine training. Its first eco-innovation was Amidograf, the first biodegradable foliage wire vine clips that compost in-situ. Then, a year ago, Cavi group released Tutofi, stakes made from recycled & repurposed plastic and aluminium waste, which in turn are fully recyclable themselves.
Sustainability without compromise
Tutofi is the result of the shared expertise of Replace, a French organisation committed to zero waste, circular economic consumption, and Cavi Group. Replace brought new recycling technology to the table, which offers an energy efficient way to recycle plastic to produce 100% recycled, 100% recyclable metal-plastic products.
Cavi Group’s sales director, Basile Gautherot, saw an opportunity to bring long-lasting eco-responsible stakes to vineyards with Tutofi, stakes guaranteed for 10 years with a minimal carbon footprint.
Tutofi stakes boast many advantages: they are resistant against UV, humidity, frost and soil chemistry. They don’t rot or rust. They are resistant to tillage tools and can be attached to the binding wire. What’s more, each stake is reusable and at the end of its life can be recycled by the same process that produced it.
These stakes are made from waste that, until now, had no way of being recycled and ended up in incinerators or landfill. What better feeling than planting your vineyard stakes and realising that this equipment started out life as a toothpaste tube, a make-up container, food packaging, a road sign, and knowing that you’ve done your bit to contribute to zero-waste winegrowing.
Circular economy and zero waste crossing the Channel
Replace’s first machine started operating in early 2022 in their headquarters in Champagne, and was soon joined by a second machine. To ensure that they practice what they preach, Replace source waste within a radius of less than 60 miles of their locale, and the transformed products, including Tutofi, are also manufactured locally.
Whilst the number of vineyard stakes needed annually in the UK doesn’t (yet) justify a Replace machine on this side of the Channel, other products are also currently being trialled, including fence posts, tree stakes, pallets and garden furniture. It’s easy to see the potential of this technology on British soil, recycling British waste to combine the circular and local economy, while reducing landfill, and our carbon footprint, to produce more best-selling products.
