A Ukrainian company is reimagining urban waste by transforming fallen leaves into eco-friendly pulp and packaging paper, thereby cutting carbon, saving water, and leaving forests untouched.

Growing Without Cutting Down Trees

Releaf Paper, based in Kyiv, Ukraine, is exploring an alternative approach to sustainable packaging by turning urban leaf litter into recyclable paper products.

Launched only a few years ago, the startup has gained attention across Europe for its circular economy model, which centres on using fallen leaves (typically seen as municipal waste) as a raw material. A pilot production line is already operating near Paris, and further expansion plans are in progress.

The concept is relatively straightforward, i.e. leaves gathered from streets and parks are cleaned, dried, and processed into pulp. That pulp is then used to produce kraft-style paper, which has been adopted by several major brands, including Chanel, Samsung, and Uber Eats.

Why?

Traditional paper manufacturing is resource-intensive. For example, virgin kraft paper (paper made from freshly harvested wood pulp) typically has a carbon footprint of around 1,500 kg CO₂e per tonne. Even recycled paper clocks in at 1,300 kg CO₂e per tonne, depending on the energy mix used.

By contrast, Releaf Paper says its product emits just 303.77 kg CO₂e per tonne, which is four to five times less than its conventional competitors. It should be noted that this figure has been independently verified by ClimatePartner.

It seems also that the savings in Releaf’s manufacturing process don’t stop at emissions. For example:

– Water usage. Just 0.002 litres per kilogram of paper, compared to thousands of litres in traditional processes.

– Transport emissions. Leaves are collected from within 20km of production sites.

– Decomposition rate. Releaf paper biodegrades in 30–55 days—much faster than standard paper, which can take up to 270 days.

“By transforming fallen leaves into pulp, we’re proving that sustainable materials can be locally sourced, high-quality, and scalable,” says CEO Alexander Sobolenko. “This isn’t just a packaging solution—it’s a shift in mindset.”

How It Works

The process begins with green waste that would normally be burned or landfilled. Leaves are collected from urban areas by public utility services, then cleaned and dried. Releaf then uses its proprietary combination of mechanical and thermo-chemical methods to convert this biomass into paper-grade pulp.

This pulp is then blended with recycled fibres (usually around a 40:60 mix) to create the final product, which is ‘Releaf Natural Kraft’. This is a durable, recyclable paper used in everything from retail bags and ecommerce mailers to wrapping paper and corrugated boxes.

Expansion On The Cards

The current production facility in Zmiiiv, Ukraine, can handle up to 3,000 tonnes per year, but it looks as though expansion is firmly on the cards. A €3.5 million EU-backed pilot line in Les Mureaux, just outside Paris, opened in late 2024, and Releaf also plans to raise €8 million in Series A funding this year to expand its footprint across Europe and into North America and Asia.

Why It’s Proving Popular

According to Releaf, it’s not just the environmental numbers that are getting attention. In an era where consumers increasingly demand sustainability (and are willing to pay for it), Releaf Paper is able to help brands make good on their green promises. For example, according to data from the company:

– 82 per cent of consumers are now willing to pay more for sustainable packaging.

– Among Gen-Z, that figure rises to 90 per cent.

– 71 per cent of all consumers say they’ve chosen a product based on its sustainability credentials in the last six months.

It seems that from luxury retailers like Chanel to tech brands like Logitech, companies are turning to Releaf to help meet both regulatory and reputational pressures.

In France, for example, Uber Eats recently partnered with Releaf to deploy nearly 100,000 biodegradable bags across select restaurants in Paris, helping to reduce single-use plastic waste in food delivery.

“For us, this is more than just sustainable packaging—it’s about helping businesses shift their entire mindset towards the circular economy,” explains Valentyn Frechka, Releaf’s 23-year-old Head of Technology and the inventor behind the leaf-to-paper process.

The Changing Paper Industry

Releaf’s rise also shines a light on a sector undergoing major transformation. For example, the global green packaging market is projected to grow at 6.1 per cent CAGR from 2020 to 2028, fuelled by both consumer pressure and legislative crackdowns on plastics and unsustainable materials.

Other Companies Making Similar Products

It should be noted here that other companies are also starting to explore similar bio-based materials. For example, in India, Craste is making packaging from agricultural waste like wheat and rice straw. In the US, Sway has created seaweed-based plastic alternatives, and Notpla is producing biodegradable packaging from seaweed and plants. Also, Green Banana Paper in the Pacific Islands is turning discarded banana stems into paper products.

However, Releaf appears to be the only player working at scale with urban foliage. It seems that their approach has the advantage of being able to uniquely intersect municipal waste management, carbon reduction, and packaging innovation, all while tapping into a free, abundant, and renewable feedstock.

Still Some Challenges

Despite its success to date, Releaf’s business model is not without potential limitations. For example, some of its key challenges include:

– Supply chain variability. Fallen leaves are seasonal, and their availability varies by climate and geography. To ensure consistent production, Releaf must build a robust storage and logistics infrastructure, something that can be expensive and operationally complex.

– Scaling up. While the company’s innovation centre in France is promising, widespread adoption will require building multiple decentralised facilities close to raw material sources. That means further investment, local partnerships, and navigating regulatory frameworks in different markets.

– Public perception. While the idea of paper made from leaves sounds appealing, some buyers may question its durability or suitability for certain applications compared to traditional materials.

However, Releaf’s early customer list, which includes Chanel, Schneider Electric, BNP Paribas and LVMH, suggests those concerns can be overcome, especially with clear data and product performance guarantees.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

Releaf Paper’s approach may not yet be mainstream, but it appears to offer a compelling glimpse into what the future of packaging could look like. By turning a common urban waste product into a viable raw material, the company is challenging assumptions about where value can be found, and how sustainable innovation can be embedded into everyday supply chains. For a sector long associated with high resource use and deforestation, it introduces a practical alternative that doesn’t rely on virgin materials, heavy water usage, or long transport routes.

For UK businesses, particularly those in retail, ecommerce, or food delivery, the model could offer a timely opportunity. With mounting pressure from customers, investors, and regulators to reduce environmental impact, adopting packaging solutions like Releaf’s could help demonstrate real progress toward net-zero goals. The fact that the paper can be used across multiple formats, from retail bags to corrugated boxes, also makes it commercially adaptable. If UK import partners or local versions of this technology emerge, the shorter supply chain distances could amplify its appeal.

That said, this is still an emerging solution. The long-term scalability of leaf-based pulp remains to be proven, particularly in regions with less consistent leaf collection systems or more limited municipal infrastructure. Also, while early adopters are finding success with the material, broader uptake may depend on further evidence of performance, durability, and cost competitiveness over time.

Even so, it seems that Releaf Paper has changed the conversation to one that invites competitors, cities, and entire industries to reconsider what we throw away and what we could be putting to better use. If paper doesn’t have to come from trees, and if waste can become a resource, then the packaging industry may be on the cusp of something genuinely transformative. Whether Releaf leads that charge, or whether others follow with similar ideas, the direction of travel is becoming clearer. Urban waste may no longer be seen simply as a problem to manage, but as part of the solution.

Microsoft’s CoPilot now allows you to generate audio overviews of documents on the fly, all within your Microsoft account – great for those occasions where it’s more practical (or more preferable) to listen and learn rather than read and learn.

[Note – To Watch This Video without glitches/interruptions, It may be best to download it first]

Worried that a call from your bank might be a scam? Hang up and call 159, the UK-wide number that connects you safely and directly to your bank, without needing to look up phone numbers or risk calling a fraudster.

How to:

– Dial 159 from your mobile or landline.

– When prompted, say the name of your bank.

– You’ll be transferred to your bank’s official number (no searching required).

What it’s for:

If you ever get a call from someone claiming to be your bank and they ask for personal or financial info, end the call and dial 159. It’s the simplest way to check if it’s real and speak to the real fraud team if it isn’t.

Pro-Tip: Use 159 even if the call seems genuine. Scammers often spoof official numbers, but 159 always connects you to the real bank, safely.

OpenAI has unveiled a research preview of Codex, a cloud-based AI coding agent designed to act as a virtual teammate for software developers.

OpenAI’s Latest Bet on the Future of Coding

OpenAI says Codex is its most advanced AI-powered software engineering agent to date. Codex has been designed to integrate directly into ChatGPT in order to assist with software development tasks ranging from writing features to fixing bugs. Available to Pro, Team, and Enterprise subscribers, and with support for Plus and Edu users expected in the near future.

AI Powered Tools Market

It’s worth noting here that Codex isn’t just another chatbot extension, but actually operates as a virtual, cloud-based coding assistant that can handle multiple tasks in parallel, provide verifiable output logs, and work with live codebases, all within a secure sandboxed environment. As such, it represents a clear move by OpenAI to secure a larger stake in the fast-expanding market for AI-powered developer tools.

So, What Is Codex, And What It’s For?

Codex is powered by codex-1, a specially trained variant of OpenAI’s o3 model, optimised for software engineering through reinforcement learning on real-world development tasks. OpenAI says this model is designed to produce cleaner, more human-readable code than its predecessors, and it can iteratively run and verify its own output using tests, linters, and other standard developer tools.

Once a user connects Codex to their GitHub repository, the agent loads the relevant files into a cloud sandbox and starts work. Users can assign coding tasks by typing a natural language prompt and clicking “Code”, or ask Codex questions about their codebase with the “Ask” function. Each job runs in an isolated environment, mimicking the structure and configuration of the user’s real-world dev setup.

Codex can:

– Write new features or functions

– Refactor and rename code

– Fix bugs and debug issues

– Answer questions about unfamiliar code

– Draft documentation and pull requests

– Run and verify tests.

Fast

Task completion using Codex typically takes between 1 and 30 minutes depending on complexity, and users can monitor progress and review results in real time. Once a job is done, Codex provides traceable logs of its actions and suggested changes, helping ensure transparency and accountability.

Safety

According to OpenAI Product Lead Alexander Embiricos, “a lot of the safety work from our o3 model carries over to Codex,” including the ability to reliably refuse malicious requests, such as writing malware, and restrict access to external APIs or the wider internet. This means Codex cannot be used to covertly access or manipulate live systems, though it also limits its utility for tasks requiring broader connectivity.

Who’s It For?

Right now, Codex is being rolled out to ChatGPT Pro, Enterprise, and Team subscribers worldwide. OpenAI says “generous access” will be granted initially, but usage will soon be capped by rate limits, with additional credits available for purchase. Plus and Edu users are next in line.

Tested Last Month

This preview follows months of behind-the-scenes work with early access testers. For example, companies such as Cisco, Temporal, Superhuman, and autonomous driving firm Kodiak have been helping OpenAI refine Codex in real-world settings. The use cases vary, but recurring themes include:

– Speeding up test coverage

– Automating background development tasks

– Enabling non-engineers to contribute lightweight code

– Improving developer focus and reducing context switching.

How Are The Testers Using It?

To give an idea of its real-world applications in some of these big-name tester companies, at Superhuman, Codex now helps product managers draft minor code changes without interrupting engineering teams. Also, at Kodiak (a company developing autonomous driving technology), it’s used to enhance test coverage and refactor key components in their autonomous driving stack. Also, at Temporal, which builds workflow tools for distributed applications, it supports debugging and iterative feature development.

A Follow-Up to Codex CLI

This latest launch builds on the release of Codex CLI last month, a lightweight, open-source command-line tool that lets developers interact with AI agents directly from their terminals. Codex CLI now defaults to codex-mini-latest, a variant of the o4-mini model optimised for low-latency editing and Q&A.

To streamline access, OpenAI has simplified authentication, i.e. users can now sign in via their ChatGPT accounts and instantly access API credits ($5 for Plus users, $50 for Pro) for a limited time. Pricing for codex-mini-latest is $1.50 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens, with a 75 per cent discount via prompt caching.

Broader Ambition

These updates appear to point to a broader vision, whereby OpenAI wants Codex to be more than just a helpful assistant, i.e. it wants Codex to function more like a trusted teammate. As Josh Tobin, OpenAI’s Agents Research Lead says – the goal is for Codex to eventually complete tasks autonomously that “take human engineers hours or even days”.

Riding the AI Coding Boom

This preview version is clearly a high-profile launch that OpenAI hopes will position it against growing rivals in the AI coding space, including Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, and a host of rapidly scaling startups. Also, more than that, it provides a glimpse into what the company sees as the future of human-AI collaboration in software engineering.

It should also be noted that the timing of Codex’s release is no accident. AI coding tools, sometimes dubbed “vibe coders”, have exploded in popularity in recent months. For example, both Google and Microsoft claim AI now contributes to around 30 per cent of their internal code output. Startups like Cursor have reached $300 million in annualised revenue and are being valued as high as $9 billion.

Meanwhile, OpenAI itself has reportedly just finalised a $3 billion deal to acquire Windsurf, the developer behind another major AI coding tool. Taken together, these moves appear to show the company is serious about expanding beyond its flagship chatbot and into the broader ecosystem of developer tools, including video generation (via Sora), research agents, and web automation.

Codex could, therefore, be a big part of that strategy. As AI capabilities advance, OpenAI seems to be envisioning a future where developers assign well-scoped tasks to multiple AI agents in parallel, review their work asynchronously, and move faster across every stage of the development lifecycle.

Challenges, Criticisms, and What Comes Next

Despite the buzz, Codex (like other AI coding agents) isn’t without its flaws. For example, a recent Microsoft study showed that even top-tier models such as Claude 3.7 Sonnet and o3-mini struggled to reliably debug software in complex environments. Codex’s own documentation notes that users must still manually review agent-generated code before integration or deployment.

Some developers have also expressed concern over workflow disruption. For example, delegating tasks to a remote agent adds latency compared to interactive editing, and current limitations, like the lack of image inputs for frontend work or the inability to mid-course correct an agent, may frustrate more advanced users.

There’s also the question of safety. While Codex runs in a secure, air-gapped environment and is trained to refuse malicious instructions, OpenAI acknowledges that balancing security with legitimate use cases (e.g. kernel-level programming) remains a work in progress.

Looking ahead, OpenAI says future versions of Codex will include more interactive features, deeper integration with developer tools (including CI systems and issue trackers), and even proactive collaboration capabilities, allowing agents to check in during a task and adapt based on new feedback. Also, if this research preview gains traction, it may change how businesses, from startups to enterprises, approach software development altogether.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Rather than offering a single-use tool or a generic assistant, OpenAI is positioning Codex as a foundational part of the software engineer’s toolkit, i.e. a collaborator that can work independently on defined tasks while staying closely aligned with human expectations and workflows. That positioning reflects OpenAI’s wider ambition to normalise multi-agent workflows and move towards asynchronous, AI-assisted development at scale.

For developers, especially those in high-pressure or fast-moving teams, Codex could help relieve the burden of repetitive or time-consuming tasks (refactoring code, writing tests, or updating documentation) freeing up more time for problem solving and creative development. At the same time, its ability to surface context, suggest improvements, and operate in secure containers could make it a valuable tool for navigating legacy codebases or tackling long-standing bugs. It may not be perfect, and as the documentation itself makes clear, human review is still essential, but the potential for improved focus and faster delivery could be really significant.

Businesses in particular may find this especially useful. For example, with ongoing skills shortages in the tech sector and continued demand for digital transformation, tools like Codex could help firms deliver projects faster without always needing to expand headcount. Small to medium-sized development teams, or organisations experimenting with agile methods, could see real benefits from delegating well-scoped tasks to Codex agents, either to accelerate delivery or free up senior engineers for more strategic work.

That said, the impact won’t be uniform. The very structure of Codex, i.e. running in isolated environments, without full real-time interactivity, means it will likely feel more useful for certain kinds of backend or infrastructure work than for frontend or UI-heavy tasks. Also, while Codex shows promising alignment with coding conventions and project practices, it’s still early days. Safety limitations, execution speed, and the need for well-prepared environments may restrict broader uptake until future iterations smooth out those rough edges.

For OpenAI, however, Codex is far more than a productivity tool. It’s a strategic move that places the company in direct competition with Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot, Google’s Gemini Code Assist, and Anthropic’s Claude Code. But unlike some of those offerings, Codex is being pitched not just as an assistant but as a long-term platform for agentic coding, one that could underpin an entire ecosystem of developer interactions, APIs, integrations, and workflows.

If early results hold up, Codex may well represent the next step in how code gets written, i.e. not just faster, but differently. By giving developers the tools to delegate, collaborate, and iterate with AI in the loop, OpenAI is betting on a future where productivity and creativity are amplified by intelligent software agents. And that’s a future which many UK businesses, whether they’re building the next app or maintaining critical infrastructure, may soon be part of.

The AI giant is reportedly backing a 5-gigawatt data centre in Abu Dhabi, a facility so vast, it would dwarf Monaco and could reshape global AI infrastructure.

A Bold Expansion Into the Gulf

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is reportedly helping to develop one of the largest AI data centre campuses on the planet, a 10-square-mile megaproject in Abu Dhabi that could eventually outsize the entire nation of Monaco.

The plans (first reported by Bloomberg) describe a 5-gigawatt facility that would draw as much power as five nuclear reactors and become a key node in OpenAI’s growing Stargate infrastructure programme. The UAE site is being built in partnership with G42, a powerful Abu Dhabi-based tech group chaired by the country’s national security advisor, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Sources familiar with the project say OpenAI would act as one of the primary anchor tenants, though final details are still being worked out. If confirmed, it would mark OpenAI’s largest international infrastructure commitment to date, and one that dramatically raises the stakes in the global race for AI compute power.

Why Abu Dhabi?

For OpenAI, the UAE offers more than just open desert and deep pockets. The region has become a key strategic ally in the US-led effort to expand AI capacity without ceding ground to China.

Abu Dhabi, in particular, has poured billions into tech development through sovereign funds and national champions like G42 and MGX. In return, it has sought deeper technological integration with major US firms, a goal reinforced during President Trump’s recent Middle East visit, where AI cooperation featured prominently on the agenda.

In fact, this new data centre forms part of a wider bilateral framework signed in May between the US and UAE to accelerate AI deployment across the Gulf. The accord could include the sale of over a million high-end Nvidia chips to the UAE, a move intended to counter Beijing’s influence in the region.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has long praised the UAE’s ambition. For example, speaking in Abu Dhabi last year, he said the country “has been talking about AI since before it was cool.” His company’s relationship with G42 dates back to 2023, when the two announced a regional partnership to promote AI adoption across the Middle East.

The Global AI Infrastructure Play

The Abu Dhabi build looks like being the most ambitious element yet in OpenAI’s “Stargate” initiative, i.e. a joint venture with SoftBank and Oracle aimed at rolling out hyperscale AI infrastructure around the globe. The programme, unveiled in January alongside former President Trump, is expected to channel up to $500 billion into global projects over the next four years.

OpenAI’s first Stargate campus is already under construction in Abilene, Texas. That site is expected to reach 1.2 gigawatts, making the planned Abu Dhabi facility more than four times larger! For context, even Microsoft’s largest data centres currently consume less than 1 gigawatt.

It’s been reported that each site will serve as a supercharged AI hub, equipped with high-density computing clusters and the latest generation of Nvidia and AMD chips. These are designed to handle the massive workloads required for training and deploying next-gen language models, vision systems, and multimodal tools.

According to OpenAI, demand for compute is growing faster than chipmakers can supply. For example, speaking earlier this year, Altman warned that “AI progress will soon be bottlenecked not by algorithmic innovation, but by energy and silicon.” It seems, therefore, that Stargate is OpenAI’s attempt to remove that bottleneck.

Power, Partnerships, and Politics

The scale of the Abu Dhabi site is breathtaking. For example, at full capacity, it would:

– Span over 10 square miles, which is larger than many cities and territories, including Monaco (0.78 square miles).

– Consume 5 gigawatts of power, which is equal to around 5 large nuclear plants or roughly the output of the UK’s Hinkley Point C when complete.

– House an ecosystem of tenants such as OpenAI, Oracle, and potentially others, although exact names have not yet been disclosed.

Oracle, which has been expanding its cloud footprint aggressively to support AI workloads, is reportedly involved in developing the first phase of the campus. Microsoft, OpenAI’s biggest backer, is also entangled via its recent $1.5 billion investment in G42. Microsoft President Brad Smith has since joined the G42 board.

Complex Politics

However, the politics behind these partnerships are complex. For example, G42’s historical ties to Chinese firms, including Huawei and the Beijing Genomics Institute, have caused alarm in Washington. In 2023, US lawmakers warned that such links could enable Chinese access to sensitive American tech via the back door.

Under pressure, G42 has since claimed to have exited all China-related investments and operations. For example, as CEO Peng Xiao said (to Bloomberg) in January: “All of our China investments that were previously made are already divested. Because of that, we have no need anymore for any physical China presence.”

That change appears to have helped pave the way for closer US-UAE collaboration. That said, it seems that not everyone in Washington is convinced the threat has vanished. For example, some Trump administration officials are said to be uneasy about the symbolic and strategic risks of moving advanced AI infrastructure offshore, particularly to a region still watched closely by Chinese and Russian intelligence services.

Changing The AI Landscape?

If built as planned, the Abu Dhabi super-campus would not only change the geography of AI infrastructure, but could reshape how companies access and deploy AI globally.

For OpenAI’s users, especially enterprise clients, the move signals two big trends:

1. More global redundancy and resilience. Spreading infrastructure across continents could make OpenAI services more stable, scalable, and compliant with local regulations, including data residency requirements.

2. Faster innovation cycles. With massive compute on tap, OpenAI can continue training ever-larger models, rolling out more powerful tools for business, research, and defence applications.

At the same time, the project highlights the deepening alliances between Big Tech and geopolitical power blocs. As AI becomes a strategic asset akin to oil or semiconductors, access to compute may increasingly shape who leads (and who lags) in the next digital revolution.

A New Benchmark

For OpenAI’s rivals like Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and Meta, the Abu Dhabi development looks like setting a new benchmark. Few others have announced anything on this scale. It also raises questions about whether public cloud infrastructure alone will be sufficient to keep pace, or if more firms will start investing in their own AI megastructures.

Environmental and Other Concerns

Despite the hype around the scale and the promise of the project, it also raises tough questions about energy use, environmental impact, export controls, and the ethics of building frontier AI infrastructure in politically sensitive regions. These tensions are unlikely to go away anytime soon.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

OpenAI’s reported potential leap into Abu Dhabi is more than just a headline-grabbing land grab or another tech tie-up. In fact, it appears to mark a pretty decisive moment in the evolution of AI infrastructure, i.e. where geography, politics, and compute capacity intersect on a global stage. If the deal goes ahead as anticipated, the Middle East may soon host the world’s largest AI campus, symbolising not just technical ambition but also a fundamental shift in where the power behind AI is physically rooted.

For OpenAI, the project signals a pragmatic move to secure the raw energy and silicon resources needed to train future generations of frontier models. The scale of the proposed facility underlines just how central compute has become to AI’s progress, and just how willing firms are to chase that capacity beyond their traditional home markets. Yet that ambition comes at a cost. The growing proximity between powerful AI companies and state-linked partners in geopolitically complex regions raises real questions about governance, transparency, and the safe stewardship of cutting-edge technologies.

UK businesses watching this from afar may be in two minds about its benefits. For example, on the one hand, expanded infrastructure could eventually translate into more stable, powerful AI services (and potentially lower costs) as scale economies kick in. For sectors already adopting generative AI at pace, such as finance, marketing, logistics, and law, that’s a tantalising prospect. However, it also reinforces the extent to which global supply chains, regulatory alignments, and geopolitical tensions now play an invisible but important role in the tools UK firms depend on.

Likewise, for policymakers, the Abu Dhabi campus could serve as a reminder of how fast the AI ecosystem is becoming a transnational infrastructure issue, one that affects everything from energy use and international trade to national security and data protection. The decisions being made in Abu Dhabi, San Francisco, or Washington are no longer abstract for UK stakeholders, but they shape the very foundations of how AI is accessed and governed globally.

In the end, the success or failure of this move may depend as much on diplomacy and ethics as on architecture and engineering. Although the vision is immense, so too are the risks. Whether this data centre becomes a beacon of innovation or a lightning rod for criticism will depend on how carefully all those involved, i.e. OpenAI, G42, Oracle, and the governments behind them, navigate the road ahead.