The Future of Synthetics
Coming off the back of Performance Days Munich last week I wanted to write down my thoughts around the future of synthetics which dominated many of the discussions and talks that were had. The future and feedstocks of polyamide were well discussed in many talks from supplier to brand to industry expert. And while I agreed with much that was said, there did seem to be an unspoken underlying factor as to some of the conclusions that were drawn. That made me feel somewhat uneasy. Which is something I wanted to address here, in this space. And as you’re here, I thought I’d give a run down of some of the other synthetics as well! It goes without saying by now; there is no perfect solution, only ones that are slightly better. But by pushing for those ‘better’ options, we open up the possibility for continual improvements. Because funding will always go where the money is. Voting with our buying budgets will have the biggest impact on the sustainable fabric space. For the purposes of this article, I won’t be reviewing the virgin aspect of these fibres. I’ll only be looking at recycled or non petroleum feedstocks.
So lets start with rummaging around the world of polyester. It is the most popular fibre by far due to its strength, quick drying, malleability and its cheapness. Polyester, like polyamide, is a fibre made of polymers invented by DuPont during the Second World War. If you want to know the differences between the two fibres, there’s a good chart here. Now we’ve all seen the ‘this t’shirt has saved 9 bottles from going to landfill’ marketing. And who doesn't love to save something from landfill for a new lease of life. But how, at the end of 2021, are we still sending plastic bottles to landfill? There is a well established recycling chain for plastic bottles to, you guessed it, to be made back into plastic bottles. Why do we feel the need to remove a plastic bottle from a closed loop system to make it into something new? It’s worth mentioning now that each time we recycle a polymer chain, the chain gets weaker. Which means it’s not possible to recycle indefinitely without needing new polymers added in to strengthen the chain. Now we have a lot of waste, so surely there is no harm? This is where, in order to be sustainable, we need to review who is benefitting in this supply chain and whose waste problem are we solving. A list of the largest plastic polluters can be found here. These are the same organisations that pledged $5 million to Kenya’s plastic collectors (who were being paid less than minimum wage by the resin suppliers who make the rPET chips) in 2019, and yet a single dollar has not been given to those on the ground. A way round this problem has been a number of branded yarn suppliers, giving brands complete traceability on where the waste comes from. And there are some really impactful ones, but equally there are ones who use a team of volunteers in poorer nations instead of paying people from those communities. So before you get sucked into the idea of anything, it’s always worth reviewing, who benefits.
So now we get the recyclable bit. It is currently not possible to recycle polyester fibres into new polyester fibres at scale. At all. The RiSE institute in Sweden, along with other facilities like it, have managed to create a recycled polyester yarn. A number of their sustainability projects are summarised on their website. But this is only in lab form, and there is currently no way to dispose of the ‘slurry’ (extracted dyes, finishes and other fibre blends) that is left behind. Although some researchers at universities are looking at resolving that problem, which is many years from being able to implement at scale. Polymer recycling is big business, and the resilience of the polyester makes it easier to extract from other yarns and make into a new product. Currently the only chemical recycling facility in the UK is only able to produce LPG gas from polyester. While this will hopefully change in the next 2 years, providing a better product offering for polyester waste. This is where we are now, and where we have to plan for without scalable alternatives.
Moving onto polyamide, which was the yarn of choice in many of the discussions at Performance Days Munich. Unlike polyester, there is a limited amount of sources for recycled polyamide, which makes it more expensive than polyester as well as not being as quick drying and having less stable colour adherence. And just like polyester, there is no fibre to fibre recycling available. Which is compounded in the complexity of its manufacturing process which makes it more difficult to strip out from other additions, mainly elastane. The benefit of this particular chain of polymers, is that it doesn’t weaken in the same way as polyester, so once we have got to grips with recycling, virgin additions will not be required to strengthen the chain. So what options do we have for polyamide, otherwise known as nylon;
the most widely available is described as recycled from post industrial waste, such as fishing nets for example. This is a really good option, especially if the resin supplier is buying the feedstock. In Europe it can cost as much as €150 to dispose of a fishing net through proper channels. Which given the slim margins that industry make, its no wonder so many nets get ‘lost’ at sea. Making waste part of a revenue stream is only a good thing to ensure proper disposal.
Fulgar presented their new polyamide yarn from a new feedstock, tyres. Which will be ready for purchase early 2022. Tyres have been banned from landfill here in the UK since 2002 and we have moved to an almost 100% recycling of tyre waste as part of the government’s commitment to a zero waste economy. What makes tyres so attractive as a feedstock is that they can be recycled through a similar process to rPET with the tyres stripped out into individual components; rubber, oil, steel and carbon. It’s the recycled oil that is used for the creation of the polyamide fibre. This reduces the carbon footprint of the yarn compared to virgin, and it’s a cheaper recycling method compared to fishing nets.
partial or fully bio based polyamide which is generated from castor bean oil.
other investigations are on going to create polyamide from other sources such as food waste, following on from the creation of new fabrics using waste from bananas and pineapples. Whether these would create a suitable PA remains to be seen as its still a new area of research.
It was the expert talks around the last 2 feedstocks that made me a little uncomfortable. The conclusion drawn by European experts was that food waste as a feedstock was preferable to feedstocks from castor bean because it’s a farmed product. And there may be many instances in which that could be right for your brand. But we need to be mindful as to whether those opinions come from a place of privilege in that it was a northern European opinion where farming and food scarcity is much less of an issue than in places where castor beans are grown. To fully understand the impact of climate change on farming I highly recommend this Headway podcast which talks about climate change’s impact on coffee farming. Castor beans are easy to farm, they’re like weeds that don’t strangle other plants, and they require little maintenance. They do well in climates that have been impacted by climate change and can be a great addition to a farmer’s income. The point at which it is more profitable to farm castor beans than food, then our system has failed. My concern around food waste as a PA source stems from the question, who will benefit? Because the probability that it will be general population or local governments is unlikely. Collection of waste for such sources would be required at industrial level. So those that will benefit with waste food sources being part of their revenue stream, are most likely those same brands listed as the biggest plastic polluters.
We don’t have any perfect options, but we have better options. By knowing your brand’s core values, using a range of fibre types in moderation (although not blended together because that would be a recycling nightmare) and always asking ‘who benefits’ we can start becoming more sustainable. If you have any thoughts on this post I would love to hear them, so please drop me a message on the button above.
