Sustainable group upcycling chopsticks into homeware eyes expansion
Founder Tom Davies is hoping to find the back of the net with his sustainability venture (Image credit: ChopValue UK)
A sustainable manufacturing business which transforms used chopsticks into furniture and homeware products has launched its factory in Liverpool.
ChopValue UK, founded by Sheffield United footballer Tom Davies, has collected five million chopsticks in 12 months, upcycling the used materials into a range of products including desks, coasters, and charcuterie boards.
Davies has traced the inspiration behind starting up the business to playing football outdoors in parks during his childhood.
He said: "I have always been interested in sustainability and the planet, and growing up I've realised it's not just your park, it's the whole world's.
"This opportunity came up to me at ChopValue to make a change and I really wanted to do that.
"To see something as humble as chopsticks being made into a product so beautiful is incredible to me."
The business is currently operating in Liverpool and Manchester, hiring and manufacturing entirely locally, while also sourcing the chopsticks from local restaurants, underscoring ChopValue's sustainable values.
Davies also outlined the group's ambitions to expand to new regions, adding: "We are currently focussed on getting the Liverpool factory up and running, we need to close the loop and start getting people to buy the products from us - once that's more set in stone, we'll look to expand into new regions."
The manufacturing process involves stages in resination and drying, before the chopsticks are densified in a heated hydraulic press that compresses the chopsticks into engineered composite material, allowing them to be manufactured into retail products.
The former Everton man also credited the efforts from his team in helping him balance his football career with his business venture, saying: "Football can be full of individuals - but this is something we're doing as a team."
With chopsticks forming 0.05 per cent of global waste streams, ChopValue has highlighted its aims to create a further impact on the environment by expanding into other waste streams.
