From the Sector

The Enforcement Forum of ECHA agreed that the next REACH enforcement project will investigate how companies fulfil the registration, authorisation and restriction obligations for products and chemicals they import from outside the EU. The project will be done in 2023-2025 and will require close cooperation between REACH enforcement and national customs authorities in the Member States.
In its November meeting, the Enforcement Forum, responsible for harmonising the enforcement of EU chemicals legislation, agreed to focus its next project on the control of imports of substances, mixtures and articles.

This subject was triggered by high levels of non-compliance in imported goods detected in previous Forum projects, including a recent pilot project. The pilot found that 23 % of inspected products were non-compliant with requirements set by EU law and further controls are necessary.

Control of imports at the point of entry is the most effective means of checking that non-compliant substances, mixtures and articles do not enter the European market. The project will also work on further developing and strengthening existing cooperation between REACH inspectors and customs. By strengthening the control of imports, the project will also contribute to the goals of the EU’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.

The Forum also agreed to publish its future advice on enforceability of new restriction proposals under REACH.

Opportunities for expanding the future role of the Forum, strengthening the control of imports and other areas were on the agenda in an open session where 41 representatives from stakeholder organisations and four candidate countries joined. Among other topics, the open session also addressed the enforceability of REACH restrictions, for example, in textiles or on the use of lead gunshot in wetlands as well as analytical methods relevant for the control of REACH duties.

The Forum’s Biocidal Products Regulation Subgroup (BPRS) re-elected Helmut de Vos (BE) for a second term as a Vice-Chair.

The first Cradle to Cradle Certified^® clothing collection is on the market one year after the collaboration platform for Swiss textile labels was launched. The Circular Clothing cooperative has succeeded, in close cooperation with European suppliers, in gaining access to circular materials and equipment and using this for the Black Denim Collection by the ethical fashion label “the Blue suit”. An important step for the cooperative, which receives funding from the Migros Pioneer Fund, is the development of an online assessment tool which can be used to help check the readiness of textile labels to operate in a circular manner.

The black denim was developed by a renowned manufacturer in Italy. Since no toxic chemicals are used in the production process, this denim is safe for biological cycles and Cradle to Cradle Certified^® Gold. Cradle to Cradle Certified^® Gold certified material by the Swiss company OceanSafe was used for the lining of the jacket. Special innovative design elements and production processes, such as the printed lining, also meet the stringent Cradle to Cradle Certified^® Gold requirements. Currently, 1% of the material of the Black Denim Collection is Cradle to Cradle Certified® Bronze. In the next few months, this percent and thus also the whole garments should reach the gold level.

The Cradle to Cradle^® certification is based on the following five principles: Material Health, Product Circularity, Clean Air & Climate Protection, Water & Soil Stewardship, and Social Fairness. Depending on the extent to which all of these criteria are met by the manufacturing process, there are various levels of certification from bronze to silver, gold and platinum.

and textile technology company Infinited Fiber Company’s work to build the world’s first commercial-scale Infinna™ textile fiber factory in Kemi, Finland, has progressed largely according to plan since the announcement of the factory site in June 2022. The company is increasing its focus on scaling Infinna™ production volume further as quickly as possible. This is in response to the continued and growing customer demand for the company’s high-quality regenerated textile fiber Infinna™. The market impacts of the ongoing war in Ukraine – including the increased uncertainty on the global utility, commodity and financial markets – have highlighted the need to proceed rapidly with technology scaling on multiple fronts.
 
“We are not immune to the global market context in which we operate. The supply chain issues stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic are still wreaking havoc, and the ongoing war in Ukraine has dealt a heavy blow to the global utility, commodity, and financial markets – and to us. We are satisfied with the progress at the site of our planned commercial-scale factory and the opening of the factory remains our key priority. The current, unstable market environment has highlighted the need for us to also accelerate efforts to simultaneously pursue other avenues for scaling production, with the ultimate aim of serving our customers in the best possible way in the long run,” said Infinited Fiber Company CEO and cofounder Petri Alava.
 
Infinited Fiber Company said in June that it planned to build a factory to produce Infinna™, a textile fiber that can be created 100% from cotton-rich textile waste, at the site of a discontinued paper mill in Kemi, Finland. The factory is expected to create around 270 jobs in the area and to have an annual production capacity of 30,000 metric tons, equivalent to the fiber needed for about 100 million T-shirts. The future factory’s customer-base includes several of the world’s leading apparel companies, with most of the future production capacity already sold out for several years.
 
Since June, Infinited Fiber Company has advanced the site-specific basic engineering, recruitment planning, vendor selection, and permit processes according to plan. The limited component availability caused by the continuing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have, however, prolonged significantly the delivery times for some of the key equipment and machinery needed for the factory. As a result of these developments, Infinited Fiber Company has re-evaluated its overall factory project timeline. The first commercial fiber deliveries from Kemi are now expected to begin in January 2026. The scope of the project remains unchanged and construction work at the site is expected begin during 2023 as previously communicated.
 
In addition, the European energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine has caused the electricity prices in Finland to roughly triple, and the prices of some of the key chemicals needed in the fiber regeneration process have risen by some 200-300% since the start of the war.
 
“We of course don’t have a crystal ball. But according to our advisors and other experts, utility and commodity prices are forecast to normalize before 2026, when we now expect the first commercial fiber deliveries from Kemi to be shipped. In addition to the likely normalization of the market, the extended timeline enables us to undertake the necessary measures to develop the profitability of the future factory. The growing demand for Infinna™, despite the general turbulence, is an encouraging and clear indication of the fashion industry’s commitment to circularity,” said Petri Alava.

Perstorp has been acquired by PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG), Malaysia´s leading integrated chemicals provider and part of PETRONAS Group, on 11 October 2022.

In May this year, PCG signed a Securities Purchase Agreement with Financière Forêt S.à.r.l, a company under PAI Partners, a European private equity firm, to acquire the entire equity interest in Perstorp, a leading sustainability-driven global specialty chemicals company based in Sweden. With the completion of the acquisition, Perstorp is now PCG’s wholly-owned subsidiary.

PCG will strive to ensure the timely completion of Perstorp’s growth projects in a safe and cost-effective manner. Perstorp has several projects lined up in the near future, including the launch of Project Air which aims to reduce carbon emissions through the production of sustainable methanol. Recently, The European Union Innovation Fund selected Project Air, as one of the 17 large-scale green tech projects, which together will be granted more than EUR 1.8 billion. Project Air is a gamechanger for the chemical industry, moving from fossil raw materials to recycled and bio-based feedstock, thereby enabling sustainable chemical products to a large variety of industries and end products. At full capacity, it will reduce global CO2 emissions with close to 500,000 metric tons per year from today’s levels, corresponding to one percent of current emissions in Sweden.

• Values from the past 30 years more relevant than ever and are reflected in recent growth

During its 30^th anniversary, the international OEKO-TEX^® Association is still seeing positive business development despite numerous global challenges. In total, OEKO-TEX^® issued more than 36,000 certificates and labels in the past financial year – an increase of 14% compared to the previous year. The STeP by OEKO-TEX^® facility certification recorded the strongest growth, almost doubling compared to 2020/2021. The number of labels and certificates issued increased from 31,696 to 36,084 between July 1st, 2021, and June 30th, 2022.

"Since OEKO-TEX^® was founded in 1992, our business practices have been aligned with our core values," says OEKO-TEX^® Secretary General Georg Dieners. “Sustainability, trust and safety build upon each other and are the basis of transparent and sustainable action. We underpin responsible action with our independent scientific methods and are valued in the industry as an effective, solution-oriented partner.” In the past financial year, this was reflected in the new Impact Calculator, with which STeP by OEKO-TEX^®-certified companies calculate their CO₂ emissions and measure their water consumption to ultimately reduce both. For OEKO-TEX^®, a sustainable future is inextricably linked to a transparent status quo. "By setting the highest standards and communicating them openly, we encourage companies and consumers to do the same," says Dieners.

To maintain trust and credibility, OEKO-TEX^® includes external perspectives. The International Advisory Board reviews proposals of the OEKO-TEX^® Working Groups and provides important impetus for continuous optimization of the standards. Additionally, a Public Stakeholder Consultation was conducted in March 2022 to gain comprehensive insights from all interest groups. These are now being integrated into the further development of the standards and services. The investments of the past financial year reflect how important quality assurance and product control are for the OEKO-TEX^® Association: Almost 40% of the total expenditure flowed into these two items.

In the meantime, the basic business continues to progress successfully. The number of STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certificates issued in the 2021/2022 financial year exceeded 25,000 for the first time. More than 15,000 chemicals, colorants and auxiliaries were certified with ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX^®.

In autumn 2022, OEKO-TEX^® will launch a certification to help companies comply with upcoming due diligence laws. With RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS by OEKO-TEX^®, OEKO-TEX^® is responding to the increasing global expectations of compliance with due diligence requirements in companies. The new standard is based on the EU proposal for due diligence, the German Due Diligence Act, which will come into force from 2023, and numerous other international legislative proposals.

• Aims to tackle the immense textile waste generated in urban environments, on the back of import bans of waste materials
• Addresses the shortcomings of current textile recycling technologies, which are unsuitable for urban settings due to the use of heavy chemicals
• Technologies developed by the newly-formed RGE-NTU Sustainable Textile Research Centre will be test-bedded in RGE’s pilot urban-fit textile recycling plant, projected for completion as early as 2024

Royal Golden Eagle (“RGE”), a global group of resource-based manufacturing companies, which includes a world-leading viscose fibre producers Sateri and Asia Pacific Rayon (APR), is developing urban-fit, closed-loop textile-to-textile recycling solutions, through the newly-formed RGE-NTU Sustainable Textile Research Centre (RGE-NTU SusTex). This is a five-year research collaboration between RGE and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (“NTU”), to accelerate innovation in textile recycling that can be deployed in urban settings. The research centre will develop new technologies to recycle textile waste into fibre and create new, next-generation eco-friendly and sustainable textiles.

This move comes on the back of the tightening of waste import bans in countries such as China, India and Indonesia, which are among the world’s largest waste processors. The stricter import bans have left cities in need of viable local textile recycling solutions to tackle the immense textile waste generated.

RGE Executive Director, Mr Perry Lim, said, “Current textile recycling technologies, which rely primarily on a bleaching and separation process using heavy chemicals, cannot be implemented due to environmental laws. At the same time, there is an urgent need to keep textiles out of the brimming landfills.” He added, “As the world’s largest viscose producer, we aim to catalyse closed-loop, textile-to-textile recycling by developing optimal urban-fit solutions that can bring the world closer to a circular textile economy.”

Globally, an estimated 90 million tonnes of textile waste is generated and disposed of every year, with less than 1% being upcycled into new clothing or other textile materials. By 2030, the amount of global textile waste, which currently accounts for almost 10% of municipal solid waste, is expected to reach more than 134 million tonnes. The textile industry is also responsible for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions – more than international flights and maritime shipping combined.

At present, most of the available textile recycling technologies are open-loop, where textile waste is typically downcycled to lower-quality products (insulating materials, cleaning cloths, etc.) or be used in waste-to-heat recycling.

“Closed-loop textile-to-textile recycling processes, particularly chemical recycling, are still under development. Scaling up the technologies to industrial scale remains a challenge. A key bottleneck is that refabricating textile waste into fibre needs purity standards for feedstock. However, most of the clothes that we wear are made of a mixture of different synthetic and natural fibres, which makes separating the complex blends of materials challenging for effective recycling.

“Our aim is to address this industry pain point by developing viable solutions that use less energy, fewer chemicals and produces harmless and less effluents, and then potentially scale up across our global operations,” Mr Lim said.

To tackle the key challenges in closed-loop textile recycling, RGE-NTU SusTex is looking into four key research areas, namely cleaner and more energy efficient methods of recycling into new raw materials, automated sorting of textile waste, eco-friendly dye removal, and development of a new class of sustainable textiles that is durable for wear and, at the same time, lends itself to easier recycling.

Technologies developed by RGE-NTU SusTex will be test bedded at RGE’s pilot urban-fit textile recycling plant in Singapore, which is projected for completion as early as 2024. If successful, RGE has plans to replicate the plant in other urban cities within its footprint.

By defining “sustainable attributes” for bluesign® APPROVED chemicals registered in the bluesign® FINDER, Bluesign is furthering its ability to provide more sustainable solutions by providing specified search functions to help chemical suppliers and the textile industry make better informed decisions. The bluesign® FINDER is a web-based, advanced search engine for manufacturers. It contains a positive list of preferred chemical products. Today more than 20,000 bluesign® APPROVED chemical products are registered in the bluesign® FINDER.

Bluesign® APPROVED chemical products meet the stringent bluesign® CRITERIA for chemical assessment. That means that the approved chemicals are produced following occupational health and safety (OH&S) practices with less environmental impact and excellent Product Stewardship following the principles of Input Stream Management and sustainable chemistry.

In addition to the existing functions within the bluesign® FINDER, bluesign® SYSTEM PARTNER chemical suppliers can claim selected sustainability attributes for their bluesign® APPROVED chemical products that will be displayed within the bluesign® FINDER. Sustainability claims will be verified by Bluesign during on-site assessments and through chemical assessments. Requirements and data provisions will be laid out in the criteria: bluesign® CRITERIA for chemical assessment ANNEX: Sustainability attributes for bluesign® APPROVED chemical products.

The bluesign® FINDER will be amended with search functions starting this year with the below first priority attributes:

1. Renewable feedstock (biomass* or bio-based)
   The sustainability attribute ‘Renewable feedstock (biomass or bio-based)’ is intended for use with any chemical product that contains at least 20% biomass content by weight in the form of biomass-derived carbon.
2. Sustainably sourced renewable feedstock (biomass* or bio-based)
   The sustainability attribute ‘sustainably sourced renewable feedstock (biomass or bio-based)’ is intended for use with any chemical product that contains at least 20% biomass content by weight in the form of biomass-derived carbon. The biomass content shall originate from land that is certified sustainable.
3. Recycled content
   The sustainability attribute ‘Recycled content’ is intended for use with any chemical product that contains at least 20% recycled content by weight. For the calculation of the recycled content only the dry content of the chemical product shall be regarded, excluding water.

Archroma, a global leader in sustainable specialty chemicals and solutions and a portfolio company of U.S.-based private investment firm SK Capital Partners (“SK Capital”), announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Textile Effects business (“Textile Effects”) from Huntsman Corporation. Closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals and is expected to take place in the first half of 2023.

Since its formation in 2013, through a series of mergers & acquisitions, as well as internal investments in R&D, manufacturing and service capabilities, Archroma has been building a comprehensive portfolio of solutions to serve the emerging needs of the textile industry. The combination with Textile Effects and its rich historical roots of Huntsman and Ciba Specialties will create a technology powerhouse that will include Archroma’s legacy heritages of Sandoz, Hoechst, Clariant, BASF and Dohmen who have been at the cutting edge of the textile industry for decades, and together will continue to serve customers for years to come.

Both Archroma and Textile Effects are founding members of Sustainable Chemistry for the Textile Industry (SCTI), an alliance of leading chemical companies that strives to empower the textile and leather industries to apply sustainable, state-of-the-art chemistry solutions that protect factory workers, local communities, consumers and the environment.

• Opportunity to rebalance trade relations and promote a global sustainable textile industry

Today’s trade relations between the EU and India in textiles and clothing are characterised by a large and systemic trade deficit for the EU; annual imports from India exceed €6 bln (2021) – making it the 4th supplier – while EU exports to India reached just half a billion – the 20th place in our export markets.

Against this background, the free trade negotiations are an opportunity to rebalance that relationship; European textile and clothing companies can offer high quality and innovative products for the Indian market, but they can also offer solutions to reduce the environmental footprint of the textile industry.

EURATEX, as the voice of textiles and apparel manufacturers in Europe, supports an ambitious EU trade agenda, that puts reciprocity, transparency, fair competition and equal rules at the centre of its action. The FTA is an opportunity to establish a more sustainable and fair trading system, based on rules, global environmental and social standards, which are effectively respected by all.

In this context, EURATEX highlights that the sector needs open and efficient markets, but combined with effective controls where necessary, thus ensuring level playing field for European companies. It is clearly essential that the same level of market access to India – both in terms of tariff and non-tariff barriers – is available to EU producers as vice versa.

India today benefits from reduced customs duties due to GSP. For European companies instead, market access to India is challenging, facing non-tariff barriers (related to proof of origin, quality control procedures, etc.) as well as national or state-level support programmes which distort the level playing field between EU and Indian companies.

That level playing field should also apply to our sustainability targets. As the EU will roll out its EU Textile Strategy, setting ambitious standards and restrictions (e.g. on chemicals), we must ensure the FTA is fully aligned with that strategy.

Director General Dirk Vantyghem commented: “We look to these negotiations with great interest. The FTA is an opportunity to develop a shared ambition between the European and Indian industry to make sustainable textiles the norm, and to create a regulatory framework where our companies can compete in a free and fair environment.”

The partnership will aim at eliminating hazardous Potassium Permanganate Spray and most manual processes in denim finishing, while reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions, water and chemical use in the process

Hong Kong based Epic Group, a leading garment manufacturer for global brands today announced its strategic partnership with CleanKore, a denim innovation and patent licensing company. This partnership aims at scaling the CleanKore patented yarn dyeing technology that provides numerous sustainability benefits for both the denim mill and garment manufacturer.

CleanKore patented technology changes the chemistry and the process used to dyeing yarns at the denim mills by keeping intact the white core of the yarn and only dyeing the surface. This technology significantly reduces water, chemicals and process time in the denim garment finishing stage.

Denim garment finishing often involves onerous manual processes such as handsanding and hand whiskering, spraying of harmful Potassium Permanganate (PP) (done by heavily protective equipment donned personnel), and multiple washing cycles. CleanKore technology coupled with lasers enable elimination of the PP spray process, significantly improving health and wellbeing of apparel workers, as well as emissions of harmful chemicals. Manual processes are eliminated in most styles and significantly reduced in others.

CleanKore technology also enables the reduction of wash cycles – reducing water, chemical use and process time, adding to the sustainability credentials of the end products. The products currently tested by Epic Group and CleanKore demonstrate up to 44% of water savings in garment finishing and up to 60% of energy savings in the fabric dyeing stage, along with the elimination of PP spray.

Through their partnership, Epic Group and CleanKore are planning to rapidly scale up the adoption of this technology in partnership with Epic Group’s customer base. In the first year, the partnership plans to reach over 4 million pairs of denim and working towards a scale of 15 - 20 million pairs of denim per annum in the next 3 years, converting a large portion of Epic Group’s denim production to CleanKore technology.