Acqua Coir Limited ('Acqua Coir' or the 'Company') was formed in 2018 to pursue opportunities in the rapidly growing coconut coir (also known as 'coco coir', 'coco peat' or simply
'coir') sector.
The use of coir in a range of high usage products has huge environmental benefits, and
the Company's core mission is to provide a range of attractive, premium quality coir-based
products which will enable our customers to make a meaningful individual and collective
contribution to the alleviation of the most alarming environmental challenges being faced
by the world today.
Coir is a naturally occurring material produced from the husks of coconuts and has a wide
range of uses, from ropes to mats and - importantly - as a growing medium in horticulture
and gardening. Coir was first extensively used in Holland in the mid 1980's when Dutch
growers found that it provided an excellent growing medium for lilies and roses. Since that
time, coir has become widely used in horticulture and gardening, due to its unique properties, often used as an alternative to compost.
More recently, the use of peat in compost has been banned in the UK with effect from
2024, with most large suppliers (for example, B&Q) already migrating away from peat based compost to peat-free compost. Coir is a form of peat-free compost, and many horticulture and garden product providers are now starting to sell coir based products.
The reason for the ban on the use of peat is to protect the peat bogs around the world
from further reduction through extracting the peat. The planet's peat bogs are highly effective at sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the leading cause of global
warming and climate change. The peat bogs sequester more CO2 than all of the world's
rain forests and all of the forestation on Earth, combined. Peat is a non-renewable resource, as a peat bog takes 10,000 years to form.
Over that time, a peat bog will absorb huge volumes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When a peat bog is harvested, not only is its area and absorption capacity reduced or eliminated, the captured CO2 is also released into the atmosphere. The peat
bogs are also habitats for much important flora and fauna, and their destruction has led to
the decimation of many species. For these reasons, the use of peat in compost or other
products has been banned, not just in the UK but also in many other countries.
The Company has been working on the development of its coconut coir products since
2018. Over this period, the Company has sourced and trialled many coir samples from
producers in Sri Lanka and India (the two leading coir producing countries), adjusting its
product blends in collaboration with the producers until optimum blends were finalised. The
Company has also trialled the coir blends in growing projects, with a range of plants and in
a range of environments. The results have been excellent.
Coir is also used increasingly in other applications in horticulture and gardening, such as
in pots and containers, as an alternative to plastic. The Company intends to sell coir pots,
containers and other products, alongside its coir growing medium products.
The Company has also worked with Acqua Systems Limited, a company also wholly
owned by Jonathan Martin, in the development of its coir products, and also in the initial
marketing and sale of coir products. From these activities, the Company has obtained
much valuable data, used in the development of the Company's business plan.
Coconut coir also has many uses outside of its use as a growing medium in horticulture
and gardening. The physical properties of coir, which make it such an excellent growing
medium, make it highly attractive as a substrate in other applications. These include the
use of fine particle coir as an absorbent, for oil and other spills, as well as many other applications.
The Company has developed a coir absorbent product which is will commence to market
and sell shortly. The Company's market testing and other research has demonstrated
rapidly increasing demand for coir products. The Company is now well placed to become a
significant provider of coir products in the UK and, subsequently, in other markets.
Demand has been proven, sales through Acqua Systems Limited have demonstrated
strong demand and the products to be sold enjoy high margins (for example the Company
has trialled the sale of conveniently sized (2 litre, 4 litre and 8 litre) bags of coir to consumers which has been highly successful and generated gross margins of 20x product
cost).
At the centre of the Company's mission and business plan is to provide products which will
have a major beneficial impact on the environment. We will provide gardeners and commercial growers with an excellent peat-free compost using coconut coir, as a highly effective alternative to peat-based compost.
We will also provide a range of other coir based products, such as pots and containers, to
reduce the use of single use plastic. Coir compost is also highly water retentive, and its
use in produce growing significantly reduces water usage, another environmental benefit
to its use.
In parallel with the promotion of coir products, the Company will leverage from the rapidly
growing interest and participation in gardening in the UK (which saw a huge increase during the COVID lock downs, with over 3 million new gardeners entering the sector), and
particularly the 'grow your own' trend, which also has multiple environmental benefits (such
as reducing food miles).
The Company will be able to offer a range of plants in addition to its coir products, sourced
through its co-owned sister company, Acqua Systems Limited. This will provide a 'virtuous
circle' for our customers. The Company has an aggressive business plan, which it intends
to execute, while maintaining is core mission and core values as an environmentally conscious business, seeking to make a difference.