It would compost ok. I cold compost but have put in many natural textiles over the years, including wool.

just thinking outside the box .. i wonder if you could make pots out of them ... ken

Do you live in a cold climate where your car might get stuck in the snow? If so, placing long strips of woven felt (or something like this wool) beneath the tires will usually get you out. The spinning tire grabs the strip and gives you just enough traction to move and get your car un-stuck.

Otherwise, it's excellent to use for weatherstripping and it should compost just fine. I'd also use it to line pet beds. :)

I wonder if you could make grow bags from it. Do you have access to wide pieces or just strips? I love the grow bags for many things I grow. I think it would be simple to make them if you sew.

It would make great insulation for potted plants that need to brave it outside for the winter but need some protection. Use it as a liner in hanging baskets, railing planters instead of coir? Keep your car windshield frost free if it is parked outside? Cover the car before a heavy snowfall making snow removal easy? No need to pollute the environment with salts, just carpet the walkways with the rug pads. Lift and shake after snowfall, no need to shovel? I know this all sounds a bit crazy but just thinking outside the box. Bigger pads or carpets would make such use cumbersome and unwieldy but these strips provide a lot of flexibility.

I compost wool clothing (and cotton) regularly. I worry a little about the dyes or bleaches, but nevertheless... It takes a season and a half for sweaters, but your stuff is much denser. It would make a beautiful mulch---especially with an attractive leaf-type covering or it would be fabulous under my wood chipped garden paths---much better than the Amazon cardboard I've been using.

@ annpat I tried some cerial boxes and it was a mistake. It has the plastic coating around it and it takes forever to break down. Lesson learned lol

Before composting cardboard try tearing it. The plastic coated stuff is easily spotted since it doesn’t tear cleanly.

I have a friend who uses raw wool fleeces which were due to be thrown out to mulch the paths in her veggie garden. It feels wonderful underfoot and the worms pull it into the soil and break it down. I think your matting will take longer to break down, but will make a good mulch.

https://www.wildvalleyfarms.com/healthy-gardening-blog/6-reasons-you-should-be-using-wool-pellets-in-your-garden-soil

Use it to mulch around plants. I used these pellets around my strawberries and would have loved to have sheets of wool like you have there.

@ Anna thats pretty cool. So if you was me would you cut them up and make pellets out of them? did you have positive results with the wool pellets??

What an interesting thread! Randy Man sorry I have no ideas but thanks for posting this - I learned something new!

:)

Dee

Wouldn't it make good insulating material in the attic, especially in light of it's fire resistance? I know they do sell 'rock wool' as insulation that is made of wool.

I wouldn't use it as insulation unless it's an approved product for such.

I agree that you need to do your due diligence and check into it. But my understanding is that the commercial product 'Rock Wool' is not treated for fire retardant because of it's natural properties but I could be wrong. It is considered one of the least toxic insulations, I believe. None of the drawbacks of chemical blown in insulation or the drawbacks of fiberglass either. I don't remember though, if there is another ingredient applied to it, it's been awhile since I was looking into it.

Could I use it at the bottom of planters so the water dont seep out as fast? THen put the potting soil back over the top, Or would the wool be to thick for this purpose? I seen a video where a guy used landscape fabric on the inside of his planters to slow the water drainage and I wonderied if I could do the same with this wool

I think it depends on how densely woven it is. It will either act as a sieve or absorb and hold the moisture. Wool holds roughly 30% its weight in water (without feeling wet, which is why it's so great for thermal layers).

Just an fyi. Rock wool has no relation at all to sheep wool. It's entirely mineral in origin. Natural wool insulation is not the same product a rock wool.

Floral, do they actually use natural wool for insulation? I know they use rock wool, but I thought for the purpose of non toxic, better for the environment, they were using natural wool and that it had natural fire resistance as well. But I'm not sure about that. And I can't imagine the building code would allow it's use without fire retardant, which would defeat the reason for using natural wool.

I would think natural wool would be a wonderful source of material for making braided or rag rugs for a natural throw rug resource.

Randy - I'm not sure about trying to keep the water from running out too fast from a container. Adding something that retains water may lead to a pool at the bottom of the container that keeps the roots too wet and lead to poor performance or root rot. I would think it would be better for the plant to water more often if the water runs out too fast. I usually use a coffee filter at the bottom of pots that have drainage holes that are too large and allow potting soil to leak out but I just add enough to cover the hole. I'm definitely not an expert, and if you wanted to see whether it worked the way you hoped it would, no reason not to experiment on a plant/pot that isn't your favorite and monitor it. Even better take two pots that are exactly the same and add the wool to the bottom of one and see how they do.

If you do decide to experiment I would be interested to know the outcome.

Yes, you can get natural sheep wool insulation. There are many brands here e.g. https://www.chimneysheep.co.uk/product-category/100-sheep-wool-insulation/ It is indeed naturally fire retardent but is usually treated further and meets regulations. However, the environmental impact of this treatment is tiny compared with the huge amounts energy needed to heat and spin mineral material into fibres. So.... sheep wool comes from sheep and rockwool comes from rocks. No connection.

An idea. Keep some lengths in the back of the car for traction if you get stuck in mud or ice.

Offer it for sale to crafters who can shred it and reconstitute it as dryer balls or other felted items like coasters and cat toys.

Floral, I would rather not have fire retardant on a product that I had to work with. I don't know as much as I should about what they use and how toxic or problematic it might be, but my preference is always to use as natural a material with as little adulteration as possible, not simply for the environment but for the potential exposure and safety of people working with it and any potential for something to outgas into the home. Often I find people/companies have consideration for environmental safety and not necessarily with the toxicity to people. And I always wonder if regulations that require fire retardant on everything from insulation to baby pajamas is well thought out in that regard.