New Fibres and Dyeing and Finishing Technologies Gear Up For Circular Supply Chains

Environmentally sustainable raw materials, environmentally sustainable processing, environmentally sustainable products and a focus on circular supply chains are now top of the agenda in the textile and nonwoven industries. This was apparent at three separate conferences which were held 'virtually' in September 2021 and October 2021, namely the 60th Dornbirn Global Fiber Congress (Dornbirn-GFC), the RISE (Research, Innovation & Science for Engineered Fabrics) conference, and the Conference on Sustainable Finishing of Textiles.

At Dornbirn-GFC, it was noted that the European Green Deal - under which the EU aims to become climate-neutral by 2050 - had been welcomed by governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), campaigners and, if a little less enthusiastically, leaders of the nonwovens and plastics industries as being a big driver in helping to prevent climate change when it was announced in December 2019. One component of the deal will be mandatory separate collections for waste clothing in the EU by 2025 under the Waste Framework Directive. In response to the new demands of this directive, a range of new regenerated fibres is now being developed - notably by companies based in Scandinavia, including Infinited Fiber Company, Renewcell, Södra, Spinnova and Stora Enso.

At the RISE conference, one of the main topics discussed was that of biopolymers and those which can be used in the manufacture of nonwovens. Also at the conference, there were details of projects aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of the closed-loop recycling of single-use face masks using pyrolysis and the molecular recycling of plastic waste using methanolysis. And at the Conference on Sustainable Finishing of Textiles, 'minimum application digital technologies' for dyeing and finishing were showcased by a number of companies, including adphos Group, Alchemie Technology, Baldwin Technology, Coloreel, Dyecoo, Green Theme Technologies and Imogo.