From the Sector

Carbios  has been granted the building permit and operating authorization for the world’s first PET[1] biorecycling plant, allowing construction to start. The plant will be built in Longlaville in the Grand-Est Region on a 13.7-hectare site adjacent to the existing PET production plant of Indorama Ventures, its strategic partner.

This state-of-the-art facility, scheduled for commissioning in 2025, will play a crucial role in the fight against plastic pollution by providing an industrial-scale enzymatic recycling solution for PET waste. Carbios’ technology enables PET circularity and offers an alternative raw material to virgin fossil-based monomers, allowing PET producers, chemical companies, waste management firms, public entities, and brands to have an effective solution to meet regulatory requirements and fulfill their sustainability commitments. The plant will have a processing capacity of 50,000 tons of post-consumer PET waste per year (mostly waste that is non-recyclable mechanically, equivalent to 2 billion colored PET bottles or 2.5 billion PET food trays) and will generate 150 direct and indirect jobs in the region.
 
The plant will be built on a 13.7-hectare site acquired by Carbios on Indorama Ventures’ existing PET plant site without suspensive conditions. The land area gives the possibility to double the facility’s capacity.
 
A plant designed to minimize its carbon footprint
The plant is designed to maximize circularity, with high-quality output products, and minimize its environmental footprint, especially with regards to energy consumption. Optimizations are underway to further increase the recycling of water required for the process.

Located near the borders with Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg, the plant’s location is strategic for nearby waste supply. Moreover, Carbios’ biorecycling technology can process complex waste that conventional technologies cannot recycle and produce food-grade products, enhancing the plant’s flexibility for waste supply. Carbios and Indorama Ventures will collaborate to ensure the feedstock supply of the Longlaville plant, located in a geographical area where the supply potential could reach 400,000 tons in 2023, and up to 500,000 tons in 2030 with improved selective collection.

Carbios has already secured an initial supply source by winning part of the CITEO tender for the biorecycling of multilayer food trays. The consortium composed of Carbios, Wellman (a subsidiary of Indorama Ventures), and Valorplast has been selected to handle 30% of the tonnage proposed by CITEO. Carbios will handle the portion of the flow consisting of multilayer food trays at its Longlaville plant starting in 2025.
 
Plant funding secured
In July 2023, Carbios successfully completed its capital increase for approximately €141 million, the largest capital increase on Euronext Growth since 2015. This amount is mainly intended to finance the construction of this plant, for which the total investment is estimated at around €230 million. The portion of the investment not funded by the proceeds from the July 2023 capital increase is expected to be covered by Indorama Ventures, which plans to mobilize approximately €110 million for this project, French state subsidies of €30 million, and €12.5 million from the Grand-Est Region, as well as a portion of Carbios Group’s available cash, which amounted to €78 million as of 30 June 2023.

Carbios announced the strengthening of its leadership team with the appointment of Bénédicte Garbil as Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability. Bénédicte Garbil oversees three strategic areas: Public Affairs, Corporate Affairs, and Sustainability. In her Corporate Affairs role, she supervises Communication, Regulatory, Project Management, and Innovation Funding functions. In her Sustainability role, she oversees CSR, QHSE, and LCA functions. Bénédicte Garbil also joins the Group’s Executive Committee.

Bénédicte Garbil started as a public affairs advisor at the French Federation of Healthcare Industries before becoming Director of Public Affairs at a pharmaceutical laboratory. In 2013, she joined the public sector, first working at the General Directorate of Enterprises (DGE) as Head of the Health, Biotechnology, and Agri-food Industries Bureau, and then at the General Investment Commissioner’s Office (CGI) from 2014 to 2017 as Deputy Director of Health and Biotechnology. Her experience allowed her to gain expertise in public policies and funding innovative projects, contributing to the creation of public funding mechanisms supported by the French Program of Investments for the Future (PIA). After her public service, she led Edwards Lifesciences in France for 4 years, then founded a consulting company accompanying biotechnology and healthcare companies in their development, from valuation to market access, including industrial development in France. A graduate of Sciences Po Lille, she holds a master’s degree in health law and a university degree in pharmacoeconomics.

SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD. of Wakayama, Japan will participate in the A+A 2023—Safety, Security and Health at Work International Trade Fair in Düsseldorf, Germany (24th-27th October 2023). On display will be the company's latest safety-related technology through its new SPG®-R pile glove knitting machine and the prototype SFG®-R next-generation glove knitting machine. Each of these machines drew attention at SHIMA SEIKI's booth at the International Textile Machinery (ITMA 2023) Exhibition in Milan.

SHIMA SEIKI's original SPG®, developed in 1979 as the world’s first automatic glove knitting machine to produce seamless pile-knitted gloves, is now reborn as a next-generation model. Pile gloves feature special traits that include cushioning, shock-reduction and thermal insulation and cold protection, making them popular especially in the field of industrial safety. Now, SPG® is redesigned from the ground up and re-introduced as the SPG®-R. The new SPG®-R features a new moveable sinker system with selectable loop presser function. Combined with a new belt-driven carriage it allows SPG® to provide efficient and reliable production of fashionable, high-quality pile gloves. Shown in 7 gauge at A+A, SPG®-R surpasses the previous generation with pioneering technology, improved capability and reliable productivity.

SHIMA SEIKI's original product on which the company was founded was the fully automated seamless glove knitting machine. While the original model evolved to become the current SFG® series, SFG®-R exhibited at A+A is its spiritual successor. With a new sinker system, a belt-driven 2-cam carriage and auto yarn carriers SFG®-R is a completely new machine for knitting gloves that conform better to the shape of the hand for improved fit. Furthermore its greater design potential offers users the opportunity to break out of the work glove market and into the fashion market. SFG®-R is shown as a prototype next-generation model in 12 gauge at A+A.

Also demonstrated will be SHIMA SEIKI's APEXFiz® design software. The importance of design software is made even more significant by the new patterning capabilities of SPG®-R and SFG®-R. Both machines now feature increased design potential that allow each of their products—pile gloves and work gloves, respectively—to expand their market into fashion. APEXFiz® is available for developing these designs. Furthermore virtual sampling on APEXFiz® is especially effective in streamlining the production process. Ultra-realistic simulation capability allows the use of virtual samples for evaluating design variations without producing actual samples for each variation, thereby minimizing the time, cost and resources normally required with sample-making, supporting smart, speedy and sustainable production.

Once again Tonello will be present their technologies and partnerships at Kingpins from October 18-19.

DyeMate, the ozone, THE Laser
DyeMate is Tonello's new "patent-pending" technology that reinterprets the traditional indigo garment dyeing process, by making it automatic and repeatable, efficient and sustainable: carried out in a nitrogen atmosphere, without oxygen, with controlled reduction and oxidation, to achieve results that are perfectly comparable, in terms of authenticity and "aesthetic flavor," to those of denim that fades and becomes vintage with the passage of time.

Tonello will present a collection of garments with super bleach effects. With OBleach, EGO and O-Zone triad redefined the garment bleaching process, including no harmful chemicals such as chlorine and permanganate, in favor of sustainable and healthy production.

The entire collection will be embellished and finished with aesthetic solutions and details: the natural overdyeing of Wake, the ultra-thin graphics made with THE Laser Lab, the reproducible breakages of THE Laser T and TM.

Collections, design, collaborations
The MSP - Most Sustainable Product - collection, developed together with Kingpins and Denim House, designed by Piero Turk and Serena Conti, and processed in Tonello's Research and Development Center with the latest responsible finishing technologies, returns this year.

Tonello will also present another project: ONE Denim. A collection that aims to combat resource waste in the denim industry by demonstrating concretely how many new denim garments could be made from a single fabric by optimizing processes and choosing appropriate technologies and production methods. The fabrics chosen are from Sharabati Denim, the design is by Piero Turk, and the collection is processed by Tonello.

SA-KE
This project was born out of a dialogue between Tonello's technology and the creativity of British designers Sadia Rafique and Kelly Harrington, who produced as many as 70 artworks that are partly physically present at Kingpins and partly published in a book-zine that tells the philosophy and logic of this unique and original work. A work that combines technology, expressive research and all new forms of image generation, across the boundary between natural and artificial, but still totally human.

Australia is one of the highest waste generators in the world, with over 7.6 million tonnes of food ending up in landfill each year, costing over $36.6 billion and producing 17.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gas.

Deakin’s partnership with Jet Technology through REACH will explore ways to transform industry-generated organic waste into new products like organic textiles and stock feed using a rapid composting system.

Jet Technology’s Environmental Recycling System (ERS) will build a circular economy by creating valuable products for a range of industry sectors.

Australia is continuing to generate more landfill each year. A new partnership between Deakin’s Recycling and Clean Energy Commercialisation Hub (REACH) and Japanese-based company Jet Technology aims to turn this around by repurposing organic waste and transforming it into new products.

Australia contributes more than 7.6 million tonnes of food to landfill annually, costing over $36.6 billion and producing 17.5 million tonnes of CO2.

Deakin University scientist Alfred Deakin Professor and Chair in Biotechnology Colin Barrow and his team from the Centre for Sustainable Bioproducts will work with Jet Technology to explore the possible reuses of organic waste using Jet Technology’s Environmental Recycling System (ERS). The project will focus on converting organic waste from the agriculture, dairy and fishery sectors by drastically shortening composting time so it can be used to make new products.

The four-year research project will be undertaken at the BioFactory at Deakin’s Waurn Ponds campus. It will initially focus on processing agricultural waste, converting apple pomace into a bioproduct for the textile industry. Apple pomace consists of the apple skin, pulp, seeds and stems left over from apple juice manufacturing. Its disposal in landfill can lead to greenhouse gas emissions and potential contamination of soil and groundwater.

If successful, it could lead to the establishment of a local multi-million-dollar bioeconomy where organisations such as councils, supermarkets and food and beverage businesses could cut costs while generating new revenue streams and job opportunities.

Deakin’s REACH initiative collaborates with progressive industry, government, and education partners to establish a multi-billion-dollar bioeconomy in Victoria and push the limits of technological innovation to deliver energy and recycling solutions that reduce landfill, fossil fuel emissions, and the devastating costs of global warming.

Polartec, will upgrade two of its product platforms now using Biolon™ *, plant-based nylon fiber and membrane setting a new standard in sustainability for performance fabrics. Polartec®  Power Shield™ and Power Stretch™ Pro fabrics containing Biolon™ fibers and membranes will premiere this autumn.

Biolon™ is a renewable, non-GMO plant-based nylon with a 50% lower carbon footprint than virgin Nylon 6,6.  Biolon™ nylon properties  are closer to Nylon 6,6 than many recycled nylon alternatives currently on the market.  Biolon™ has re-worked a staple, making the best, better in terms of performance and sustainability. Its plant-based inputs account for approximately half (45-48%) of the nylon content in the fibers and membranes in new Polartec® Power Shield™ and Power Stretch™ Pro fabrics debuting this fall.

Ramesh Kesh, Senior Vice President – Government & Defense and Polartec at Milliken & Company said, “For a long time, many thought that sustainable options meant a loss in performance, like durability, Polartec has proved that this is not the case. Challenging a technology already considered to be at the pinnacle of performance was a big ask yet the team at Polartec rose to that challenge and we believe we have created a new standard in sustainability for performance fabrics.” 

Carbios, a pioneer in the development and industrialization of biological technologies to reinvent the life cycle of plastic and textiles, inaugurated its textile preparation line at its demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand.

To streamline the textile preparation phase, which is currently carried out by hand or on several lines, Carbios has developed a fully integrated and automated line that transforms textile waste from used garments or cutting scraps into raw material suitable for depolymerization with its enzymatic biorecycling process.  

The patented line integrates all preparation stages (shredding and extraction of hard points such as buttons or fasteners), and provides Carbios with a high-performance, scalable development tool. The platform will help validate the biorecycling technology for textiles at demonstration plant scale (by 2024), and provides Carbios with expertise in working with collection and sorting operators to specify the quality of textiles and the preparation steps needed to make them suitable for enzymatic recycling.

The mission of Accelerating Circularity is to create new supply chains and business models to turn textile waste into mainstream raw materials. Accelerating Circularity has created a working group, the Alliance of Textile Chemical Recyclers (ACTR), to meet and address the textile industry with a common voice to facilitate accurate information on textile chemical recycling.

“We formed this collective to move chemical recycling technology forward, share common definitions, and address policies in a collaborative way to maximize the elimination of textile waste to landfills and incineration” explained Karla Magruder, Founder and President of Accelerating Circularity. “Chemical recycling technology has many benefits, including quality more similar to virgin fiber and the ability to recycle multiple times.”

ACTR plans to provide the industry with information on how textile chemical recycling can:

• offer solutions for diverting textile waste to landfill
• enable textile to textile recycling versus incineration/landfill
• provide sustainably sourced/circular materials
• support brand/retailers/producers in achieving their CO2 reduction targets
• provide long term price stability and consistent supply of raw materials versus virgin

Members of the Alliance include founding members Eastman, Lenzing, and The LYCRA Company, as well as key innovators Circ®, Sappi, Renewcell, Infinited fiber, Worn Again Technologies, Gr3n, CuRe Technology, and OnceMore® from Sodra.

As a first step, the ACTR (Alliance of Chemical Textile Recycling) is introducing a dictionary of common terms developed to educate the industry on the chemical recycling of textiles.

Hosted in Boston, Massachusetts on 27 September, Global Fashion Summit convened hundreds of esteemed representatives from brands, retailers, NGOs, policy, manufacturers, and innovators to transform ambition into action. The Summit was presented by Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), the non-profit organisation that is accelerating the transition to a net positive fashion industry, and marked the first edition of Global Fashion Summit in North America since the forum’s launch in 2009 as a side-event to COP15 in Copenhagen.
 
The Boston edition further explored Global Fashion Agenda’s 2023 editorial theme, ‘Ambition to Action’, while reflecting on and responding to what happened at Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition in June. By bringing Global Fashion Summit to Boston – a renowned hub for technology, innovation, and education - the Summit presented a deeper exploration of the global challenges, differences, and opportunities towards a more sustainable value chain. The Innovation Forum is a key pillar of GFA’s work, making Boston an apt location to showcase pioneering industry solution providers.
 
Attendees heard from over 40 speakers from a range of companies and organisations such as Levi Strauss & Co., Tapestry, Neiman Marcus Group, Thunder Voice Hat, H&M Group, Alice and Olivia, BBC StoryWorks, New Standard Institute, Conservation International, Worldly, Trove, Ceres, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd, and many more. This Summit also featured esteemed Indigenous speakers on the programme. View all speakers.
 
The Summit’s second international edition facilitated inspiring thought leadership and exchanges around key themes including: Policy, Finance, and Retail, while also complementing the core priorities of the Fashion CEO Agenda: Respectful and Secure Work Environments, Better Wage Systems, Resource Stewardship, Smart Material Choices, and Circular Systems. The programme featured bold panels, case studies, and leadership roundtables reflecting on topics including: ‘Indigenous Leadership Perspectives’, ‘Exploring Fashion’s ESG Concept’, ‘On The Ground: Adaptation or Mitigation?’, ‘The Global Approach to Circularity’, and ‘Innovation for Value Chain Challenges’.

Global Fashion Summit: Boston Edition also presented an Innovation Forum, enabling small and large companies to meet with 14 sustainable solution providers from across the value chain– equipping them with the concrete tools to expedite meaningful actions. GFS Connect facilitated over 90 connections between fashion companies and exhibitors during the Summit.

After four decades in the packaging industry, the Manjushree Group is entering the Indian nonwovens market. The entrepreneurs rely on a flexible RF Smart Composite line from Reifenhäuser Reicofil to meet very different customer requirements.

The Manjushree Group operated a blown film line for packaging materials for the tea industry in the eastern part of India as early as 1983. In the years that followed, Manjushree Technopack Ltd. developed into one of the largest suppliers of solutions for rigid plastic products in South Asia - and the family business grew into a group with several business segments. In 2018, the entrepreneurial family repositioned itself: it sold its previous core business to a financial investor and established Manjushree Ventures with footholds in start-up financing, real estate business, and manufacturing - the largest of which is Manjushree Spntek as a producer of high-quality spunmelted fabrics.

Since February 2023, Manjushree Spntek has been producing high-performance spunmelts on an RF Smart Composite line from Reifenhäuser Reicofil - benefiting both from many years of experience in the packaging industry and from experience with Reifenhäuser's blown film lines. "We know a lot about plastic extrusion, for example when it comes to line operating parameters such as temperature and pressure. Processing is similar in both industries," explains Rajat Kedia. "The main difference is the distribution of the products: In plastic packaging, we had an established customer base and sold a lot of material to the big consumer goods manufacturers. The nonwovens market in India, on the other hand, is still forming, with thousands of small companies currently getting involved." These serve customers in their regions, such as hospitals.

The RF Smart Composite line is a standardized spunmelt line for smaller and emerging markets. The line produces nonwovens of the highest Reicofil quality with appropriately adapted throughput. This makes it ideally suited for applications in hygiene and medical technology and, with typically 8,200 annual production hours, it is extremely reliable. In addition, operators can start production quickly because in many cases the line can be integrated into existing buildings.

Before production could start, Manjushree built a new production building in Bidadi, a town an hour's drive from Bangalore International Airport. The building is designed to be sustainable: It uses natural light and fresh air, has comprehensive contamination control, and obtains almost all of its energy from renewable sources. Reifenhäuser Reicofil then installed, commissioned and tested the RF Smart Composite line.

Since February 2023, Manjushree Spntek has been producing high-quality spunmelted nonwovens, including ultra-soft fabrics and fabrics with special coatings for customers in the hygiene and medical industries. The material can be used, for example, for baby diapers and feminine hygiene products, but also for medical articles ranging from surgical gowns to surgical drapes.