Germany wool washing project aims to support local sheep farmers

The Institute for Food and Environmental Research (ILU) is addressing challenges in the German wool industry through its ‘Wollwäsche’ (wool washing) project. Launched in August 2023, the initiative aims to develop and test a small-scale wool washing plant designed to allow for the pure sorting of small wool batches with minimal transport requirements.

Currently, the lack of suitable wool washing facilities in Germany forces producers to transport raw wool to Belgium or Austria, which is considered inefficient from both economic and ecological perspectives. High processing costs currently make sheep wool less competitive against synthetic or other renewable materials. A webinar scheduled for October 7, 2026, will present the challenges of the project and discuss future approaches for wool washing in Germany.