From the Sector

Recycling is the key factor in achieving the EU climate targets. This is shown by the results of the "resources SAVED by recycling" study published today, which Fraunhofer UMSICHT prepared on behalf of the ALBA Group, one of the ten leading recycling companies worldwide. According to the study, 3.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions and 28.8 million tons of primary resources could be saved in 2020 alone. Further potential could be raised, for example, through minimum quotas for the use of recycled raw materials.

“Fit for 55” thanks to the circular economy: the recycling of raw materials leads to a systematic reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions of our civilisation – and can therefore make a key contribution to achieving the EU climate goals. This is the outcome of the “resources SAVED by recycling” study presented today, which the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT prepared on behalf of the ALBA Group. Thanks to the closed-loop circulation of 4.8 million tonnes of recyclable materials, the ALBA Group succeeded in preventing some 3.5 million tonnes of climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions in the year 2020 alone. This amount is equivalent to the emissions from some five million return flights between Frankfurt am Main and Mallorca. At the same time, recycling also secures valuable raw materials for the industry: in 2020, in comparison with primary production, recycling saved 28.8 million tonnes of resources, such as crude oil and iron ore.

“The circular economy is one of the strongest pace-setters on the journey to achieving climate neutrality,” highlights Dr. Axel Schweitzer, CEO of the ALBA Group. “We will only achieve the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 per cent throughout Europe by 2030 if we make consistent use of recycled raw materials.” This includes the area of plastics, for example: compared with primary plastics made from crude oil, the use of high-quality recycled plastics achieves a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of more than 50 per cent. “It is now necessary to lever this potential,” explains Schweitzer. “We are expecting the new Federal Government in Germany to act decisively and push ahead directly with the transition to a circular economy. The environmental benefits of recycling due to its clearly superior CO2 balance should also find reflection in prices. As immediate climate protection measures, clear industry standards for recyclates combined with minimum quotas on the use of recycled raw materials in products and packaging are also urgently necessary. Last but not least, the state sector is also called upon to prioritise resource protection in the area of procurement. Sustainable procurement can ultimately provide a significant boost to the circular economy”.

Plastics, metals, waste electrical (and electronic) equipment, wood, paper, cardboard, cartons or glass: the Fraunhofer UMSICHT has now been researching the specific benefits of recycling for 14 years. Detailed comparisons have also been made of the primary processes and recycling processes for the various material flows. “This means we can precisely quantify the extent to which the recycling activities of the ALBA Group can contribute to reducing the burden on the environment,” explains Dr.-Ing. Markus Hiebel, Director of the Department for Sustainability and Participation at Fraunhofer UMSICHT. Hiebel believes that the greatest savings can be achieved if the entire value chain is aligned consistently with the circular principle: “The transformation towards a genuine circular economy requires completely new thinking. Products should be designed and managed to ensure that they contain recycled raw materials right from the start – which enables them to be recycled appropriately.”

Lenzing presented at FILO its sustainable approach and on a selection of key innovations such as TENCEL™-branded specialty fibers.

As part of the space dedicated to Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto and Fashion B.E.S.T., the first Italian collective of responsible fashion designers, a selection of TENCEL™’s key technologies were under the spotlight:

• TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™, using cotton textile waste and wood pulp as the feedstock for cellulosic fibers, creating a circular solution;
• TENCEL™ x Indigo Color, infusing pigment into fibers directly during the spinning process;
• TENCEL™ Luxe, providing superior aesthetics, performance and comfort to be the perfect partner of other noble fibers such as silk, cashmere or wool;
• TENCEL™ Carbon Zero, offering carbon-zero CarbonNeutral®-certified products by Natural Capital Partners;
• TENCEL™ x Eco Clean, bringing totally chlorine-free-bleached TENCEL™ Modal fibers to the textile industry.

Lenzing's priority has been to produce fibers for many sectors (fashion, beauty care, cleaning, hygiene and home textiles) in a sustainable way. Each Lenzing product is made of cellulose from wood, a renewable natural resource, coming only from certified sustainable sources.
The Lenzing Group operates two commercial-scale biorefineries with 100% wood utilization, which ensure that the totality of wood constituents are used to produce fibers, biobased chemicals, and bioenergy, thus maximizing value creation from an economic and environmental perspective. This concept was illustrated by Carlo Covini, Lenzing Business Development Manager Italy & Switzerland, in his presentation “Lenzing’s biorefinery concept”.

Lenzing will be at the 56th edition of FILO, taking place on September 29 and 30, in Milan, with its TENCEL™ fiber. Sustainability and ethical values will be the main focus of the event.

Furthermore, to delve deeper in the sustainable approach that drives Lenzing's production processes, on September 30, at 3.00 PM, a presentation with the title "Lenzing's biorefinery concept" will be held by Carlo Covini, Lenzing – Business Development Manager Italy & Switzerland. This will be part of the Dialoghi di Confronto segment set near the Networking Area.

After being rewarded with the 2021 C.L.A.S.S. Icon Award, Portuguese brand Duarte is ready to present its Spring/Summer 2022 collection developed in collaboration with C.L.A.S.S. ecohub. The streetwear designer Ana Duarte has worked in close contact with the Milanese hub in order to create a 40 pieces collection where the approach to materials, suppliers, new business models and communication could include and support a holistic view of the sustainable values aligned with style, performances, look and touch and Duarte identity.

The inspiration behind this collection is the superhero Tadao – Ana Duarte’s dog – which is the World Keeper fighting against the environmental issues mankind has generated.

With the support of WHITE and its WSM (WHITE Sustainable Milano), Duarte’s creations will be featured online on the digital space of WSM-WHITE website, as well as being shown in a dedicated physical booth on September during Milan Fashion Week. The collection will also be presented on its new brand page on Renoon, an online platform devoted to Responsible Shopping. In addition, Duarte will be supported by IDEE Brand Platform in the development of commercial activities for the SS22 collection.

As one of the driving forces helping to create a fully circular fashion industry, ISKO has partnered with Swedish research and development company MoRe Research, a part of RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, to investigate and develop new, sustainable technologies made from cellulosic-based materials, derived from waste textiles, for the company’s 25,000+ range of products. It is hoped that this research will also help make the production of cellulose-based materials more sustainable.

The work with MoRe Research feeds into ISKO’s Responsible Innovation™ strategy and will link with various sustainability projects the company is working on. For example, ISKO recently signed an agreement with HKRITA to license its Green Machine – a unique technology that fully separates and recycles cotton and polyester blends at scale.

ISKO will leverage MoRe Research!s expertise and resources to find ways of repurposing the clean and toxic-free cellulose powders that are created from the decomposed cotton, as well as the recycled polyester and reintegrate this back into fabric production. By using all of the outputs from the recycling of textiles back into textiles, the prospect of a closed-loop system becomes more feasible.

The investment in this new technology is the latest in ISKO’s ongoing drive for advancements in sustainability. As part of the company’s R-TWO™ program ISKO is also working to develop fabrics with a guaranteed minimum +50% GRS (Global Recycle Standard) recycled content blend. This will significantly reduce the carbon and water footprint of a fabric, as well as make it easy to trace a garment’s sustainable journey step-by-step from the beginning of the supply chain through to the end product.

• Long-term partnership between the Austrian textile producer FEINJERSEY and the German textile machinery manufacturer BRÜCKNER

The Feinjersey Group is an internationally operating textile company and supplies the "global players" of the textile industry worldwide. The value chain of the company, which is based in Götzis, Austria, ranges from yarn processing to the finished product.

As a fully integrated production company, the internationally active textile company Feinjersey attaches great importance to a high quality standard and guarantees care at every step in the process chain. With approx. 250 employees and annual sales of around 45 million euros, the company knits, dyes and finishes top-quality knitted fabrics as well as elastic woven fabrics for a wide range of applications.

Products are made for the fashion, sports, workwear and technical textiles sectors. Among other things, fabrics for the automotive industry, laminating backings and coating substrate for artificial leather or foils, construction textiles or fabrics for medical technology are all produced.

The Austrian textile manufacturer has been certified with the Bluesign textile seal and ensures efficient use of resources with modern machinery. Water and energy consumption as well as pollutant emissions are to be reduced to a minimum.

In textile finishing in particular, the focus is on minimising energy consumption as this process is the most energy-intensive in the entire process chain. Feinjersey uses its own photovoltaic system for this purpose, as well as the heat recovery and exhaust air purification systems on the stenter frames. By using the waste heat from production, the company's buildings are heated. All six stenter frames at Feinjersey are made by BRÜCKNER and produce with three-stage heat recovery and exhaust air purification systems.

The latest BRÜCKNER line has a working width of 4.20 m and is mainly used for the finishing of high-ly elastic and extremely sensitive knitted fabric. In order to avoid yellowing on the fabric, the stenter is equipped with an indirect gas heating system. The knitting oil vapours coming from the fabric during the heat-setting process are extracted from the dryer and cleaned in a BRÜCK-NER ECO-AIR exhaust air cleaning system before being extracted to atmosphere. The complete exhaust air treat-ment on the newest stenter is carried out by a multistage BRÜCKNER ECO-HEAT and ECO-AIR system.

There has been a sharp rise in demand for organic cotton products. Compared to conventionally grown cotton, the cultivation of organic cotton requires the renunciation of genetically modified seeds, chemical pesticides or fertilisers. Nevertheless, genetic modifications are repeatedly found in textiles that are falsely labelled with organic claims. Often, available certification systems are not backed up by lab testing. At best, they only take random seed samples. Textile testing specialist, Hohenstein, has developed an assessment method specifically for cotton. This new DNA analysis method makes it possible to ascertain the amount of genetically modified cotton contained in products. This is good news for textile industry stakeholders who will be on the safe side in terms of quality control and labelling of organic cotton products.

First step: qualitative screening and identification. Second step: quantification of genetically modified cotton.
For qualitative screening, Hohenstein experts had developed molecular biological detection systems to make clear yes/no statements about genetically modified cotton. Testing can be applied to all kinds of materials, from raw cotton to chemically untreated yarns and fabrics. In addition, Hohenstein is one of only a few laboratories in the world accredited to test for GMOs in accordance with the ISO/IWA 32:2019 protocol. Its method provides reliable evidence of the presence or exclusion of genetic modification in cotton textile precursors.

Once qualitative proof of genetic modification is obtained, Hohenstein experts begin quantifying the type and extent of the genetic modifications. To do this, they use DNA analysis to search for different cotton lines known to contain genetic alterations and quantify the proportion. Only by pinpointing individual genetic modifications and quantifying the extent of modification is it possible to provide precise information on whether there is an extremely small proportion of contamination, or whether larger proportions of GMOs have been mixed in. This offers clear benefits to manufacturers, brand owners and retailers when it comes to supply chain transparency and fraud prevention.

International technology Group ANDRITZ has received an order from Renaissance Textile to deliver a recycling line for their first recycling platform, located in Laval, France. Start-up of the recycling line from ANDRITZ Laroche is scheduled for the end of Q2 2022.

First of all, postconsumer waste fibers will be opened, then mixed with virgin fibers and spun once again in order to ultimately produce new textiles. The specific design of this line is the outcome of close collaboration between experts from ANDRITZ Laroche and the customer, with customized trials being conducted at the ANDRITZ technical center in Cours, France.

Renaissance Textile’s target is to become the first French recycling platform dedicated to end-of-life
textiles, and the company will soon open the new 12,000 sqm plant.

ISKO, a global, leading premium denim ingredient brand, announced its participation in The Jeans Redesign – a project, established by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Make Fashion Circular initiative, to encourage and guide the denim industry to transform the way jeans are made and move towards a circular economy for fashion.

ISKO meets the requirements for participation set by The Jeans Redesign guidelines and has made a commitment that 85% of its entire fabric production will consist of recycled material content made from pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled materials. This production will be independently verified by Textile Exchange audit bodies.

This achievement is made possible using ISKO’s R-TWO™ technology which is created through a patented and exclusive yarn spinning technique that retains the unique properties and benefits found in ISKO’s statement fabrics. ISKO’s R-TWO™ is the embodiment of its Responsible Innovation™ mindset and aligns with the principles of a circular economy espoused by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation – to ensure durability, material health, recyclability and traceability. R-TWO™ positions ISKO as a sustainability leader and enables it to exceed the project guidelines to create denim that is designed to be used more, made to be made again and made from safe and recycled or renewable inputs.

Truetzschler Nonwovens will deliver equipment to enlarge an existing spunlacing line - put into operation in 2015 at the Turkish Eruslu Nonwovens Group - into a flexible, state-of-the-art production line for various light to heavy weight sustainable nonwovens.

Last year Eruslu decided to broaden its portfolio in the wipes segment by adding biodegradable products from renewable resources. The group took full advantage of the 2015 small capacity line and went for:

• a second NCR random and a NCA airlay card
• fiber preparation and card feeding equipment for the two new cards
• more hydraulic power to reliably and efficiently hydroentangle multi-layer webs
• an extension to the dryer for increased evaporation capacity

After starting up in the second half of 2022, Eruslu will be operating an ultra-modern, highly flexible NCR-NCA-NCR spunlace line, the first of its kind in Turkey. The line is tailor-made to process virgin cotton fibers, comber noils and short fibers at high speeds. End products are top-quality, lightweight natural wipes or heavy-weight, three-layer nonwovens for cosmetic pads.