Shives, other outlets of the flax plant

A co-product with multiple outlets

Shives are straw fragments recovered during the scutching. They represent about 50% of the entire plant. They have different types of outlets:

  • Horse bedding
  • Horticultural mulching
  • Chipboards
  • Raw material for heating

  • LINABOX® horse bedding

    • LINABOX® is a natural bedding. LINABOX® is composed exclusively of flax shives, central and woody part of the flax stem. The LINABOX® bedding was developed by Terre de Lin.

      LINABOX® flax horse bedding has many advantages:

      • 100% natural and 100% dust-free. It is suitable for horses with respiratory disease
      • Absorbs odors and attracts fewer insects
      • High absorbing power
      • Very small volume of waste
      • Linabox® manure: an excellent fertilizer

  • LINAPARC® horticultural mulching

    • Exclusively made from shives, LINAPARC® flax mulching is 100% natural. LINAPARC® flax Mulching was developed by Terre de Lin

      LINAPARC® flax mulching has many advantages:

      • Protects fruits and vegetables of the earth's soils
      • Regulates soil moisture and limits watering
      • Reduces weed growth and reduces weeding

  • Flax chipboard

    • The shives can be used to manufacture chipboard.

      The fibers of the flax shives, lighter and longer than wood chips allow to obtain a softer material, which is more resistant to twisting than traditional particle board. Due to their properties that make them particularly advantageous, flax panels compete with panels of wood particles: strong, soft, insulating and moisture control.

      Particularly environmentally friendly, flax panels are now also manufactured in France by two different companies and have differents markets:

      • Inside of doors : because of its fire resistance, flax is commonly used for stop fire doors.
      • partitions: flax shives are a good sound insulation.
      • Melamine: for worktops
      • Packaging

  • Raw materials for heating

    • Flax shives can be recycled locally as heating energy.

      They have interesting characteristics as energy term: higher heating value than wood (4.4 MWh / t, against 3.0 to 3.5 for dry wood), low humidity (around 10%), product homogeneity.

      Boilers fed by shives are also environmentally friendly heating solutions.

    •