Chemical Making -to-Fiber Recycling a Reality for ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

GreenBlue would like to acknowledge the support and contributions of the following companies and people:

STUDY SPONSORS:

STUDY PARTICIPANTS:

Steelcase Inc. GreenBlue Institute Resinate Materials Group Angela Nahikian Nina Goodrich Kris Weigal Jon Smieja GreenBlue Board of Directors Heather Knight Shaw Floors Gr3n John Conyers Patagonia Maurizio Crippa Troy Virgo Nellie Cohen Matteo Bertele Elissa Loughman Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) Elena Egorova H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) Scott Miller Todd Copeland Mutlu Toksoz Amina Razvi Cecilia STRÖMBLAD BRÄNNSTEN Assets Unlimited TEXTAID Frank Endrenyi Herman Miller Inc. Anna Pehrsson Lauren Zulli Association of Contract Textiles (ACT) Dan Broersma Exchange - rPET Working Group Janan Rabiah Karla Magruder I:CO Lisa Emberson Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) Chetan Gupta Brittany Moore John Standish Donna Worley L.A. Fiber Bentex Mills (a division of Burlington Ron Greitzer The Renewal Workshop Technologies) Nicole Bassett Rachel Marquardt Loop Industries, Inc. Daniel Solomita True Textiles CARBIOS Giovanni Catino Alan Dean Martin Stephan Machell Apple lululemon Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) Robyn Kimber Unifi Manufacturing, Inc. Bob Peoples Chad Bolick Mohawk Circle Economy Joe Foye Valdese Weavers Traci Kinden Mark Scott George Gwen Cunningham Mike Sentha Phil Eller Phil Stoner Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute Victor Textiles (C2CPII) National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) Jean-Pierre Rioux Annie Gillingsrud Hardy Poole Christian Roy Maura Dilley Nikwax-Paramo Directional Clothing Worn Again Crypton Nick Brown Cyndi Rhoades Hardy Sullivan Gareth Mottram Adam Walker Kim Paterson Designtex 2ReWear Deidre Houget Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) Eric Stubin Carol Derby Beth Jensen Susan Lyons Nikki Hodgson

Ellen MacArthur Foundation - CE100 Polartec, LLC Joe Murphy Jihad Hajjar Francois Souchet TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary 4 Introduction 6 Selected Chemical Recycling Technologies 14 Polyester Textile Sector Profiles 14 Apparel 16 Contract Textile 24 Residential Carpet 27 Contract Office Furniture 32 Eastern U.S. PET Wasteshed Map See website Company Features See website

3 Executive Summary

olyethylene terephthal- inputs, provided at least 70% to the quality ladder in response to ate (PET) is a significant 80% of the material is PET, and market demand. material in the global have the potential to produce In the past, chemical recycling economy, and makes high-value outputs – so that technologies for PET have Pup about 18% of global polymer PET can be recycled back struggled to become commer- production. Approximately 65% into virgin-quality fiber or even cially viable, for reasons includ- to 70% of the PET produced solid-state applications (bottles, ing higher capital and operating is used for fiber applications, containers, engineering-grade costs relative to mechanical while 30% to 35% is used for resins). recycling, lack of sufficient feed- solid-state resin applications. stock volumes to achieve econo- While recycling infrastructure is The terms “open-” and “closed-” mies of scale, and low prices for well-established for solid-state loop recycling are frequently virgin materials, creating a weak PET packaging materials, such used to describe two different market for recycled monomers as bottles, such infrastructure types of recycling in the circular or other outputs from chemical does not currently exist for PET economy. Typically, open-loop recycling facilities. The new fibers. It is challenging to recy- recycling presumes that mate- chemical recycling technolo- cle PET fibers using traditional rials will be cascaded to lower gies evaluated in this report mechanical recycling technol- value uses due to degradation have the potential to operate ogies due to the complexity of in quality, whereas closed-loop more efficiently as a distributed textile products, which often recycling presumes to keep network of small-scale facilities contain a blend of fiber types as materials flowing within the near sources of PET feedstock. well as a diversity of chemicals same product value chain (e.g., Additionally, many of the new used for backings, surface treat- bottle-to-bottle, fiber-to-fiber). technologies require relatively ments, and pigments. As However, in reality materials little energy inputs, potentially a result, PET textiles are often flow to where there is the great- reducing operating costs. Some “downcycled” into lower value est demand and market value. of the technologies can be co-lo- products or end up in landfills or An open- loop model offers the cated with PET resin manu- incinerators. best chance for building a scal- facturers, and other recyclers able, efficient and sustainable have created partnerships with New chemical recycling tech- infrastructure for recycling PET bottle and fiber manufacturers nologies are now coming on to textiles as well as other materi- looking for high quality recycled the market at various stages als. Because chemical recycling PET resin. Both of these strat- of development, and have the can transform lower grade in- egies can help assure a market potential to disrupt the material puts and materials that are diffi- for recycled outputs from chem- economy for PET textiles. These cult to recover into higher grade ical recycling facilities. technologies, from companies outputs suitable for a variety of such as CARBIOS, Gr3n, Loop applications, it enables textiles One approach to ensure that Industries, Resinate Materials to be part of a sustainable open a chemical recycling facility Group, Worn Again, can typ- loop recycling system, in which receives enough feedstock for ically accept a broad range of materials cascade up and down commercial viability is to con- 4 sider “PET wastesheds” within is on par with the cost of baled textiles – read more about this a geographical region. Because post-consumer PET bottles – in our series of features. All of chemical recyclers can process a and thus, could be both techni- these efforts are important to broad range of feedstocks, such cally and economically viable as help overcome the numerous as pre-consumer or post-con- a feedstock for chemical recy- challenges of creating a circular sumer contract textiles, apparel, cling. More detailed information economy for textiles, where pre and carpet face fiber, as well can be found in the PET Textile and post-consumer have as solid-state post-consumer Sector Profiles of this report. the potential to be recycled back PET packaging from materials into high quality inputs for the recovery facilities, these materi- Many companies and other . New chemical als can be aggregated to pro- organizations are taking inno- recycling technologies have the vide a recycler with sufficient vative approaches to solving potential to create disruptive feedstock material. GreenBlue the problem of textile waste: change in the PET economy, en- conducted interviews and col- extending the life of textile abling all forms of PET to move lected data from each of these products, making textile prod- freely through the economy in sectors, and found that in gener- ucts more recyclable, and an open-loop recycling system al, the cost of PET textile creating markets for recycled without loss of material value. 5 Introduction

GreenBlue is a non- feedstocks for future products. a given industry sector. Recent profit organization innovations in chemical recycling dedicated to the sus- There are “levers” that create processes for polyethylene tere- tainable use of mate- disruptive, positive changes or phthalate (PET) are a good exam- Grials in society. Our mission is to that can influence the direction ple of how technology can be a foster the creation of a resilient and effectiveness of the materi- lever that alters the cost/benefit system of commerce based on al economy such as technology equation for the reutilization of the principles of sustainable enablers, policy mandates and a commercially very significant materials management (“SMM”). the creation of new financial material. GreenBlue’s sustainable mate- and business models. Intelligent rials framework is anchored by application of these levers can three core principles: be used to create new opportu- PET – A Key nities or conversely may impose Material in Material Sourcing constraints on our capacity to Understand the origins of the build an effective and efficient the Global materials being used to manu- circular economy. Some exam- facture products. Identify and ples of effective levers are policy, Economy such as feed-in tariffs for re- reduce any social or environ- PET makes up about 18% of mental impacts associated with newable energy or carbon taxes; technology, such as exponential world polymer production and is extraction or agricultural cultiva- the third-most-produced poly- tion of raw materials. increases in conversion efficien- cy of solar panels, data storage mer, after polyethylene (PE) and capacity or miniaturization of polypropylene (PP). The two pri- Material Health electrical circuitry; financing, mary uses for PET resin are for Examine the “quality” of materi- such as micro lending, social fiber to make polyester textiles als flowing through the materials profit investing, public-private and for solid-state applications economy or an individual com- partnerships; and new business such as bottles, containers, films pany’s production system. De- models, such as legalization of and engineering-grade polymers. velop strategies to ensure that benefit corporations, the shar- The approximate split between all inputs and outputs are as safe ing economy, and products as a these major classes is 65%-70% for humans and the environment service. fiber and 30%-35% solid-state as possible. resins. PET fiber represents Occasionally, a new technology about 55% of all textile fibers 1 Material Value or a variation of an existing tech- produced. Design products and systems to nology will emerge that funda- retain the embedded value of mentally changes the economics Global virgin PET production materials after each service life of some aspect of production for for 2015 was 72 million tons, is completed so they can become of which 48 million tons was

1 Interview, Chad Bolick, Unifi 6 There are qualitative differences between different grades of PET polymers based on their molec- ular weight or intrinsic viscosity (IV), optical appearance and common additive profiles. The intrinsic viscosity of a polymer reflects the material’s melting point, crystallinity and tensile strength. Differences in the physical properties of polymers have important implications for amorphous PET used for fiber their cost. The quality of recycled recycling PET and often are the applications, 20 million tons was outputs is measured by the ability primary determinant for matching solid-state PET used for pack- of the recycled materials to meet feedstock materials with the per- aging applications, and 4 million the performance requirements formance requirements of the end tons was used for film. Note that of end products that use them. products they are used to make. additional post-consumer recy- The quantity of inputs available The intended application of the cled inputs contribute to the total also influences feedstock costs polymer dictates the IV required. production of PET fibers and to recyclers as well as the scale, The higher the specification for bottles. efficiency and profitability of tensile strength, burst, impact or their operations, and is governed temperature, the higher the IV by market demand for outputs. required. More crystalline forms Quality and of PET such as bottle resin have a Quantity higher IV than amorphous forms of PET used for non-specialty or – Both An expression of the relationship lower performance resins, such between quality and quantity as it as fiber.2 Important relates to healthy end markets might For Stable be: Recycling Quality of Inputs Quality of Recycled Outputs Recycling (Required Performance (Physical Properties Process Markets of Material) X = Specifications of End Products) Creating stable recycling mar- kets depends on the quality and quantity of material inputs and outputs available. Both are interdependent and achieving Quality of Available a balance between them is nec- Feedstocks essary to create a resilient mar- ketplace capable of tolerating temporary disruptions to either variable. The quality of material inputs depends on the physical properties of feedstock materi- als, and is a major determinant of

2 “The Importance of Intrinsic Viscosity Measurement.” AMETEK Sensors, Test & Calibration. http://www.ametektest.com/learningzone/library/articles/ the-importance-of-intrinsic-viscosity-measurement. 7 Recycling Processes There are four major classifi- cations of recycling – primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary. The quality or physical prop-erties of feedstocks is less critical the further out one goes on this recycling continuum. The degree of material transformation also increases as do the end appli- cation options for the recycled materials.

See illustration below.

3 Mechanical Recycling of PET Four Classifications of Recycling Mechanical recycling typically includes sorting, separation and removal of non-target materi- als or contaminants; reduction of size by crushing, grinding or shredding, or pulling fabric fibers apart for textiles; and then re-melting and extrusion into resin pellets. All thermoplastics, including PET, can be remelted to produce new plastics. As easy as that may sound, there are many challenges to mechanically recycling plastics into high qual- ity materials capable of meeting the performance and cost expec- tations of higher value end prod- ucts. One of the reasons that re- covered PET is often downcycled to lower value uses is because it is difficult and costly to recycle materials with lower intrinsic viscosity (IV) into applications that require higher IV values. So,

3 Al-Sabagh, A.M. et al. “Greener routes for recycling of polyethylene terephthalate.” Egyptian Journal of Petroleum, vol. 25, issue 1, March 2016. http://www. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110062115000148#b0035. 8 IMAGE COURTESY OF DESIGNTEX for example, post-consumer PET bottles are often recycled into fibers, but fibers are not recycled into bottles.

The more complex a material’s composition, the harder it is to SOURCE: REVOLVE WASTE 2017, TRACI KINDEN, HTTP://REVOLVEWASTE.COM/ mechanically recycle it back into materials of equal or higher val- tane), contain multiple dyestuffs damaged white (“greige”) fiber ue than the original material. A and may also have additional and are routinely folded good illustration of complexity is polymers and chemicals used back into primary production. PET bottles versus PET textiles. as backings or as surface treat- With intention and considerable The majority of bottles come in ments. Unlike PET bottles and effort, some two primary colors, clear and other containers, post-consumer manufacturers green. In addition to the cata- textiles come in many forms to are also collect- lyst used to make the polymer, serve many applications – cloth- ing and recycling READ ABOUT DESIGNTEX there may be a small number of ing, shoes, carpet, residential and colored fabric additional additives used to alter office furniture, and automobile waste from their material properties. Common interiors to name but a few. operations back into first qual- contaminants for bottle and con- ity goods. However, due to the tainer recycling include opaque Mechanical recycling of pre-con- degradation of polymers and colors, barrier layers for added sumer PET textiles for contamination that occurs over performance, metal closures, less demanding applications multiple use cycles, mechanical rings, pump springs, PVC shrink (what some call “”) recycling eventually degrades sleeves, and adhesives used on happens quite frequently. Typical the value of the PET and often paper labels. end uses are for “stuffing” or “fill- prevents it from recirculating er” materials or nonwoven ma- into higher value applications Textiles, on the other hand, are terials for furniture, mattresses, such as fiber-to-fiber recycling. vastly more complex in their con- carpet pads, home or auto insu- struction and coloration. Most lation, sound-deadening barriers Chemical Recycling of textiles are a blend of fiber types and sediment erosion control to name a few. Certain pre-con- PET (e.g., PET/ or PET/elas- In chemical recycling, the PET sumer wastes such as unused or 9 polymer is typically broken down to create monomers, oligomers, or other intermediates. The most common methods for chemical recycling of PET include glycoly- sis, methanolysis, hydrolysis and ammonolysis.4 Depending on which process and depolymer- ization agents are used, chemical recycling produces various end products. The most common end products are PET’s monomers, purified tereph- thalic acid (PTA) and ethylene SOURCE: AGUADO, JOSE AND DAVID P. SERRANO. FEEDSTOCK RECYCLING OF PLASTIC WASTES. READ ABOUT glycol (EG), the 1999. WORN AGAIN necessary build- the material value of polymers recovery facilities (“MRFs”). ing blocks to (in the form of monomers, oligo- There is not a similar collec- make new, virgin quality PET res- mers or chemical intermediates tion infrastructure for PET in. But chemical recycling is also to make other types of polymers) textiles or other PET waste used to separate PET from other as opposed to harvesting PET’s streams. materials and to remove colo- energy value through the pro- • Few regulations or govern- rants without actually depolym- duction of syngas, fuel or heat. ment policies provide mar- erizing it back to its monomers, Technologies for chemically ket incentives to collect and or to create other end products recycling PET have been in recycle PET textile waste that retain the material value existence for quite some time. and other PET materials. of the polymer. For example, However, these technologies • Low prices for gas and crude glycolysis will have not become part of the make it hard for recycled yield a mixture of mainstream of recycling due to monomers or other out- polyols useful for several factors: puts to compete with virgin the manufacture READ ABOUT • Costs to build and operate sources. Weak or low-value RESINATE of polymers with chemical recycling facilities end markets have been a properties quite have traditionally been more barrier to entry for more distinct from capital and energy-intensive expensive technologies. PET, such as unsaturated polyes- than mechanical recycling ters, polyurethanes and poly-iso- facilities. For many in the textile commu- cyanurates. • Historically, plants have nity, the ideal recycling system been designed as large-scale is one where reclaimed textiles Occasionally, the term “chemi- operations, requiring signif- are converted back into virgin cal recycling” is used to refer to icant volumes of feedstock quality yarns to make new tex- processes that convert polymer- materials to be profitable. tiles, also often referred to as ic materials into fuels or syngas. • There has been a persistent “fiber-to-fiber” recycling. Chem- The term may also be used to re- lack of infrastructure to ical recycling is the only tech- fer to incineration of polymeric collect feedstocks other nology that can truly achieve materials for their energy value. than PET packaging (primar- this vision because it is able to GreenBlue is using the term to ily bottles and containers) remove all unwanted constitu- describe a process that recovers collected through materials ents – non-PET fibers, colorants,

4 J. Aguado and D. Serrano. Feedstock Recycling of Plastic Wastes. 1999. p. 32.

10 catalysts, surface treatments, recycling technologies to feature backing materials, and other in this report because they illus- The following technologies are auxiliary chemicals used in tex- trate different types of chemical included in this report: tile production. recycling processes and different • CARBIOS - “Using Enzymes end products that can be pro- to ‘Biorecycle’ PET” . A pro- Chemical recycling can also duced. These technologies are at cess for using enzymes to address one of the challenges different stages of development, depolymerize PET into its of mechanical recycling: meet- but all are beyond bench scale en- monomers. ing higher IV requirements gineering. A few are scaling from • Gr3n - “A New Approach to of certain applications. It hits pilot to demonstration plants, PET Chemical Recycling”. the “reset” button to start the while others are entering into Using microwave radiation to cycle over, producing virgin the early phases of commercial- accelerate the depolymeriza- quality recycled resins that can ization. GreenBlue attempted to tion of PET. be solid-stated to meet the IV understand how these technolo- • Loop Industries - “Recycling necessary for any specific end gies were substantially different PET Waste into High-Quality application. than many of the PET depolymer- Resin”. PET depolymerization ization technologies that preced- to create branded recycled Another benefit of chemical ed them. Based on responses of resins instead of monomers. recycling is that it is agnos- interviewees, the chief differ- • Resinate Materials Group tic about the form or function ences seem to be: - “Turning PET Waste into the polymer serves. It does not High Performance Polyester matter if the polymer is in the 1. Facilities are designed to op- Polyols”. Using glycolysis to form of a bottle, fleece jacket, erate at smaller scales within digest PET into oligomers compounding scrap, or an auto smaller footprints, presum- to manufacture high perfor- part. The process even allows for ably requiring less capital mance polyols. very high rates of contamination to build and operate and • Worn Again - “A Solution for without negatively impacting potentially allowing them to PET/Cotton Blended Fab- the quality of the end product. be located closer to available rics”. A dissolution process to However, the higher the contam- feedstocks. separate and recycle fibers ination, the greater its impact on 2. Most of the companies also from cellulosic and polyester profitability and the number and claimed that their technol- blended fabrics. types of by-products produced. ogies require less energy Results from our study indicate to operate than previously Markets for Recycled that the purity level required for designed facilities. All of economic feasibility is 70% to them have also conducted PET While the collection infrastruc- 80% PET content by weight for life cycle analyses (LCA) on ture and end markets are not well the technologies we evaluated. their processes to demon- organized and for the most part Chemical recycling also allows for strate that they have a lower still nascent for PET textiles, the “” PET materials whose carbon footprint than man- market for PET rigid containers physical quality is so degraded or ufacturing PET resin from is much more mature. Observing contaminated that mechanical virgin feedstocks. this fact, most of the chemical recyclers are reluctant to process 3. Worn Wear and Resinate recycling companies covered in them, successfully diverting these Materials Group are not this report are assuming that a materials from landfills. fully depolymerizing PET into significant portion of their feed- monomers, possibly affording stock will come from PET con- them even greater energy Selected PET tainer bales and/or recycled PET savings that can be applied (rPET) flake. Rigid PET bale prices Chemical Recycling to lower operating costs or set a benchmark price to which Technologies lower priced products. GreenBlue selected five chemical chemical recyclers will compare 11 the costs of acquiring PET textile feedstock. In the U.S., there has been a steady decline in rigid PET bale prices since a high in 2011 of $0.38/lb (East Coast)5. By late 2015, prices had dropped to un- der $0.10/lb.6 Realizing that glob- al production of PET fiber resin is much larger than container resin, chemical recyclers are already forecasting PET textile feedstock as part of their acquisition strat- egy and planning. Approximate price parity with rigid PET feed- stocks will help to unlock the potential of this mostly unexploit- ed source of PET. Interestingly, market prices for container bales are roughly aligned with those of pre-consumer PET textile waste end products made from recycled as inherently valuable, leading to according the survey data Green- materials. Open-loop recycling a societal commitment to build Blue obtained. Across all industry presumes that materials will be the infrastructure necessary to sectors evaluated, the sales cascaded to lower value uses due maximize the value of all mate- price for pre-consumer PET to degradation in quality, whereas rials flowing through the econo- textile waste ranged from a low closed-loop recycling presumes my, and 2) enabling materials to of $0.02/lb to a high of $0.16/lb. to keep materials flowing within cascade “down” or “up” within an It is unclear if these prices are the same product value chain open system to uses that best fit what collectors or brokers pay (e.g., bottle-to-bottle, fiber-to-fi- their physical properties with the or if they are paid directly by ber). However, in reality materials least amount of processing, mak- recyclers. Also, several produc- (virgin or recycled) flow to where ing downcycling and upcycling ers of textile goods reported there is greatest demand and irrelevant concepts . Innovations paying to dispose of textile economic value. An open-loop in recycling technologies can help waste if they were unable to find model offers the best chance for move materials up or down the recyclers who would pick up free building a scalable, efficient and quality ladder to more efficiently of charge. sustainable infrastructure for respond to market demand. recycling textiles (or any oth- Open- and Closed- er material). Ideally, the entire Closed-loop recycling (i.e., mate- Loop Recycling of PET materials economy would flow in rials being recycled back into the Textile Waste an open loop where all materials original products they served) The terms “open-” and “closed-” have economic value defined by is largely a reaction to a poorly loop recycling are frequently the end markets creating de- designed open system. Most used to describe two different mand for their use. Two things examples of successful closed- types of recycling in the circular are necessary to make an open- loop recycling happen because economy. Their definition can loop system more efficient and one or more manufacturers make vary, but most often they are effective: 1) “reprogramming” a concerted effort to intervene in used to describe the quality of cultural norms to see all materials existing markets or to to create

5 Powell, Jerry. “A quick review of PET and HDPE market conditions.” Resource Recycling, 2015. 6 “Post-consumer PET Container Recycling Activity in 2015.” NAPCOR and APR, October 13, 2016. https://napcor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/NAP- COR_2015RateReportFINAL.pdf. 12 tially cost prohibitive and unlike- ly. Chemical recycling has the potential to hit the “reset” button, moving degraded or lower molec- ular weight materials back up the quality ladder, allowing them to flow within the same value chain from which they came or to other end markets if demand is greater.

“PET Wastesheds” - Creating More Stable Markets for PET SOURCE: POST-CONSUMER PET CONTAINER RECYCLING ACTIVITY IN 2015, OCTOBER 13, 2016; Textile Recycling NAPCOR AND APR If chemical recycling is to be used as a mechanism to keep used their own markets for securing but unfortunately, this open loop textiles in the material economy, recycled materials for use in is not reciprocal. The combination a key question to be answered future products (e.g., “products of low prices for virgin PET resin is what fraction of the textile as a service”). These product and excess capacity in global PET waste stream is capable of meet- manufacturers are relying on resin production provide little ing the 70% to 80% PET purity closed-loop recycling as an inter- economic incentive for mechan- required by the chemical recy- im strategy, a necessary stepping ical recyclers to invest further in cling technologies covered in this stone towards building a more upgrading the resin to meet high- study. Across all textile sectors, efficient open-loop system that er IV specifications that would pre-consumer sources have a allows them to exert more influ- allow rPET from textile waste to greater chance of achieving cost ence over keeping these mate- be used for PET rigid containers effective, high quality recycling in rials flowing within their own or engineering-grade resins or an open system than is current- supply chains. even back into production. ly possible for post-consumer Therefore, these materials log- sources. They are easier to sort The use of recycled PET bottle ically cascade “down” into end by predominant fiber type at the flake to make PET yarns is good markets where required physical point of generation, ensuring a example of successful open-loop properties are less stringent. level of purity sufficient to meet recycling. PET yarn producers However, often a consequence quality specifications of end us- have long been using recycled of materials flowing into other ers. The economics of collection PET bottle flake to create recy- value chains is that the materials to aggregate sufficient quantities cled yarns. According to a joint keep cascading to lower levels of of material are also much more report by the National Associa- quality until they are considered favorable than for post-consumer tion for PET Container Resources valueless and are landfilled or in- sources. However, pre-consumer (NAPCOR) and the Association of cinerated with or without energy textile feedstocks may not be Plastic Recyclers (APR), approx- recovery.. Another consequence enough to achieve economies of imately 38% of rPET stream is is that once these materials are scale that typically characterize consumed by the PET fiber indus- “re-routed” into non-adjacent stable markets. Therefore, the 7 try for recycled yarn production. value chains, they become highly ability of chemical recyclers to Clearly, the textile industry pro- dispersed, making collection for aggregate PET waste materials vides a reliable market for rPET future cycles of recycling poten- from a variety of sectors will be

7 “Post-consumer PET Container Recycling Activity in 2015.” NAPCOR and APR, October 13, 2016. https://napcor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/NAP- COR_2015RateReportFINAL.pdf.

13 critical for them to obtain the volume of feedstocks necessary to sustain their businesses. For example, PET waste streams that are difficult for mechanical recy- clers to process such as off-spec resin, “fines” (very small pieces of processed PET that are often contaminated with dirt or other contaminants), white colored or opaque bottles, crystalized black food-grade trays, blister packs and thermoforms (e.g., clamshells, cups, tubs, lids, boxes, trays, egg cartons) could find higher value end markets through chemical recycling.

Analogous to the concept of a watershed where water flows to a common basin determined by its regional topography, PET recycling markets can be orga- Loop Industries to inquire economically viable due to a low nized as “wastesheds” where whether their process could ratio of PET to other material recyclers can aggregate multiple successfully depolymerize PET types. Conclusions from the de- forms of PET feedstocks available textile waste. The company had polymerization trials were that within a given region. This not previously run any trials on 1) PET textile waste is a viable approach reduces the transport of material and could significantly textile materials, so GreenBlue feedstock for Loop’s process improve the economics of recy- sent some fabric waste and 2) a minimum content of cling PET. With this idea in mind, to Loop to process. The first trials 80% PET is required to make GreenBlue combined locations of were performed on post-indus- recycling textiles economically selected textile waste generators trial fabric scrap from contract profitable for Loop. in the eastern U.S. with locations textile mills. These materials tra- of MRFs for rigid containers to ditionally have 80%+ PET fiber After confirming that chemical observe what potential there content, making them excellent recycling of PET textile waste is is to aggregate PET materials feedstock for most chemical technically feasible using Loop across different sectors within recycling processes. The fab-ric Industries’ system, GreenBlue that region. Chemical recyclers waste depolymerized very set out to answer the following might also find other types of PET materials not represented in this efficiently and increased Loop’s questions: map but flowing in quantities interest in waste textiles as a • How much PET textile waste sufficient to collect and process possible feedstock. GreenBlue is being generated by indus- economically, such as scrap X-ray conducted two more trials – try sectors where PET is a film, flexible films, strapping, one for carpet and one for post- primary fiber? converter scrap, mattress con-sumer garments. Trials • Where are sources of and batting, retail window display done on post-consumer apparel pre-consumer waste located fabrics, etc. and outdoor sporting goods relative to Loop’s two plants were scheduled for construction Polyester Textile a mix of different fiber types in the U.S. and Europe? Sector Profiles and materials. Results for these • Where are these sources of In 2016, GreenBlue contacted materials were not considered textile waste currently going – recyclers, incineration,

14 landfill? • What are the most common end markets utilizing recy- cled textile wastes? • What is the average reve- nue earned from the sale of these materials? • What other design or tech- nology innovations support more effective recycling of PET textile materials?

GreenBlue focused on the following industry sectors to collect representative data to attempt to answer some of these research questions: • Apparel manufacturing • Contract textile mills tain sectors are concentrated in • Carpet manufacturing Our goal was to collect repre- particular geographical regions. • Contract office furniture sentative data to illustrate the For example, carpet manufac- manufacturing potential for chemical recyclers turing in the U.S. is concentrat- to use PET textile waste as a ed in the Southeast, particularly Primary methods of data collec- commercially significant feed- Georgia, while much apparel tion were phone and email in- stock for their business, rather manufacturing takes place terviews and survey responses. than to conduct a study based in Asia. The responses to our Data collection for all of these on comprehensive, statistically survey confirmed that much of sectors was limited mostly to valid sampling methods. A more the PET textile gener- U.S. manufacturing locations. robust quantification of PET ated, when they are recycled, Apparel was the exception; we textile feedstock would be a are sold at a relatively low cost combined data from a small valuable contribution to build- to recyclers that use them for group of brands with suppliers ing a more efficient recycling lower-value purposes, such as located in the U.S., the U.K., Tur- infrastructure. We hope this nonwoven materials (e.g., carpet key, China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, study will provide some useful padding, insulation). Chemical the Philippines, Vietnam, and guidance for those efforts. recycling has the potential to Korea. GreenBlue also attempt- convert a significant fraction of ed to obtain aggregated data Although this study did not this textile waste into yarns to from the Sustainable Apparel include a full inventory of po- produce new woven textiles. Coalition (SAC), which had just tential PET textile feedstocks, recently completed an update we identified over 20 million from suppliers reporting data pounds of pre-consumer PET into the Higg Index Facilities textile scrap generated per Module. However, the SAC year by the companies in these reported that the data currently sectors that supplied data. This does not differentiate waste suggests that the total volume by fiber type, though the SAC of PET textile scrap potentially expects to obtain fiber-specific available for recycling is likely waste information in future re- much larger. Though textile visions of the Facilities Module. scrap is generated globally, cer-

15 Apparel Sector

uch has been writ- 102 million tons by 2030 due to group of brands. We received ten over the past a rising population and a rapidly limited data from suppliers for five years about the growing middle class in China three out of the eight brands that social and environ- and India. An estimated 64% participated in the study. Green- Mmental impacts of the apparel of the fiber used by the apparel Blue also attempted to obtain and footwear sectors. Both the industry in 2015 consisted of aggregated data from the Sus- mainstream and sustainability polyester and other synthetics; tainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) media have informed consumers this is expected to grow to 68% that had just recently completed about a multiplicity of issues by 2030 2. The impacts of rapid- an update from suppliers report- related to the production and ly rising consumption rates are ing data for the Higg Index Facil- consumption of textiles, ranging compounded by a system that ities Module. However, the SAC from significant environmental produces significant amounts reported that it is not currently pollution from contract manu- of waste and is not designed to tracking pre-consumer fabric facturing operations in Asia, to efficiently recover materials from waste by fiber type from sup- synthetic microfibers in potable key junctures of the life cycle of pliers but expects to have more water supplies, to humans sub- textiles. An estimated >25% of detailed information in future jected to unjust and dangerous textile fiber is wasted during gar- updates to the Higg Index Facility work environments. The advent ment production. 3 Another 75% Module. of has put even more (EU) to 85% (US) of all clothing pressure on the textile industry, products sold to consumers go exacerbating the global challeng- directly to landfill or incineration Pre-Consumer 4 es the industry faces. at the end of their first use cycle. Flows Global consumption of apparel Polyester (“PET”) is perhaps the Some of the primary sources of garments is rising exponentially. most important synthetic fiber pre-consumer apparel textile Between 2000 and 2014 gar- used in outdoor apparel. While waste are: ment production doubled, and by the fashion sector uses less PET • Defective or otherwise unsold the mid-2010s consumers were than the outdoor sector, it also garments keeping their clothing only half consumes a significant quantity • Cut and sew fabric scraps as long as they did at the end of of PET for blended fabrics (e.g., • Fabric weaving waste the 20th century.1 An estimated cotton/polyester). GreenBlue at- • Fabric waste/rejects 62 million tons of apparel and tempted to quantify the amount • Yarn dyeing or solution-dyed/ footwear were consumed in of pre-consumer PET waste integral color waste/rejects 2015, and global consumption generated by fabric weaving and • End-of-roll textile waste is expected to increase 63% to garment suppliers for a small • Textile swatch waste

1 Remy, Nathalie, Eveline Speelman, and Steven Swartz. “Style That’s Sustainable: A New Fast-Fashion Formula.” McKinsey & Company Sustainability & Resource Productivity, Oct. 2016, http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability-and-resource-productivity/our-insights/style-thats-sustain- able-a-new-fast-fashion-formula. 2 Pulse of the Fashion Industry. Global Fashion Agenda and The Boston Consulting Group, 2017, https://www.copenhagenfashionsummit.com/wp-content/ uploads/2017/05/Pulse-of-the-Fashion-Industry_2017.pdf. pp. 132-133. 3 Runnel, Ann et al. "The Undiscovered Business Potential of Production Leftovers within Global Fashion Supply Chains: Creating A Digitally Enhanced Circular Economy.” Reverse Resources, October 2017. 4 Kinden, Traci and Gwen Cunningham. Circular Textiles Infrastructure. Circle Economy, 2017. p. 7. 16 • Clothing sample waste • Sampling yardage waste

From a sample of twenty two suppliers, survey results indicate that: • The most common fibers reported as blends with PET at varying percentages are ny- lon, elastane, and cotton; less frequently reported fibers in blends included , viscose/ , , , and met- allized fiber. Unfortunately,

suppliers did not provide the TEXAID percentage mix of PET vs oth- er fibers for all of the waste materials or that require ket. Clothing resellers collect reported. The sample group explicit permission, as well and sort used clothing into two of suppliers reported gener- as costs to transport textile primary fractions - wearable ating a total of approximate- scrap from apparel produc- and non-wearable. The vast ly 4.8 million pounds of PET tion facilities often located majority of their revenue comes scrap annually that would in Asia to recycling facilities from the sale of the wearable meet the minimum 80% PET in North America or Europe. fraction. The non-wearable content required by most of fraction is manually sorted and the chemical recyclers cov- Like other sectors covered separated into natural fibers ered in this report. in this report, pre-consumer like cotton, bamboo and other • The price range of PET tex- sources of PET yarn and fabric hydrophilic cellulosics, or into tile scrap sold was between scrap are qualitatively ideal synthetic fibers. Cellulosics are $0/lb and $1.20/lb with a feedstocks for both mechanical sold to recyclers who process mean price of approximately and chemical recycling. Chem- them into staple fibers and $0.05/lb. In some cases, sup- ical recycling has a clear ad- yarns for manufacturing paper, pliers reported that they pay vantage over mechanical in its woven and non-woven tex- waste disposal companies flexibility to process the diversi- tiles and industrial wiping rags to collect their PET textile ty of inputs associated with the (“wipers”). Synthetics are sold to scrap. manufacture of a garment into recyclers whose major markets • A substantial majority of virgin quality recycled PET resin are manufacturers of non-wo- suppliers that generate to start the loop over again. vens for various uses such as fabric scrap report they automotive trunk-liners, sound have the ability to segregate deadening barriers and headlin- >80% PET-rich materials Post- ers. Other applications include from blends that contained filtration media, home insulation, less PET if there were suffi- Consumer furniture padding, geotextiles for cient economic incentive to soil erosion control applications, do so. Flows and carpet underlayment. Capturing the value of • Other pertinent factors that post-consumer PET feedstocks may impact the recycling of The largest source of post-con- is much more complex. The pri- pre-consumer yarn and fab- sumer PET textiles is the used mary source is the used clothing ric scrap include local regu- , which is com- industry, which has grown into a lations that limit the ability prised of both nonprofit (e.g., fairly mature and efficient mar- of companies to export these Goodwill, Salvation Army) and 17 for-profit (e.g., I:CO/SOEX, market, maximizing the Trans-Americas Trading Co., TEX- economic and environmen- Complex AID ) enterprises. GreenBlue re- tal benefits of the original ceived representative data from product; problems two used clothing companies 2. Continuation of a relation- suggesting that approximately ship with customers by pro- require 15-25% of the clothes collected viding an economic incentive multifaceted are “polyester-based”. Manual to bring clothing back to sorting in Asian facilities could their original source; solutions render a bale that is 90-98% 3. An opportunity for brands Despite the gains that have polyester content garments for to leverage the investments been made in building a more an approximate cost of $0.11- made to market the origi- efficient and profitable market $0.16/lb (“hardware” - zippers, nal garment by reselling it for used clothing, increasing buttons, buckles, and snaps through their own retail or rates of production and con- - not removed). Approximate online channels; sumption of apparel goods costs for the European market 4. The potential to increase top will continue to create excess were reported as $0.02-$0.34/ line sales by structuring col- textiles. All stakeholders want lb, although it was less clear if a lection incentives as credits solutions that will assure that bale had the same purity level as towards future purchases; the non-wearable fraction reported for Asia. The greatest 5. An opportunity to find new is recycled back into useful challenge for used clothing sup- customers who value the products as opposed to perma- pliers is to be able to sort the brand but cannot afford the nently losing its potential value non-wearable fraction of PET initial purchase price. Brands through landfill or incineration. garments more granularly to could further segment resale An ecosystem of service provid- meet the specifications of high- pricing based on the con- ers and technologies continues er value end markets where the dition of the garment into to emerge, filling in critical nich- minimum content of PET fiber “like new at a good price” or es necessary to create a circular per garment would need to be “not perfect at a great price” supply chain capable of captur- around 80% and above. Realiz- to move inventories more ing more value from both wear- ing this, some companies are in- quickly; and able and non-wearable fractions vesting considerable resources 6. An opportunity to manage of reclaimed clothing. into research and development the resale process more of more sophisticated meth- closely to reduce the risk of ods for automatically sorting brand dilution or negative Extending the service non-wearable (“recyclable”) gar- brand perception. ments by fiber type to maximize life of clothing their potential value. If these leading brands are Increasing attention is being successful in selling used cloth- paid to keeping used clothing A growing number of brands ing through their own retail in cycles for as long as like H&M, Patagonia and Eileen channels, this new trend could possible. Small entrepreneurial Fisher are also collecting used become the new “normal”. Their companies are offering services clothing at retail locations, but efforts combined with the more to help brands such programs, while growing, traditional players in the used manage their still represent a minority of the clothing industry could trans- used clothing programs READ ABOUT post-consumer stream. The late into an significant reduction THE RENEWAL potential benefits of brands in the environmental impacts and to renew WORKSHOP playing a larger role in the associated with the apparel clothing that secondary market are: industry. might ordi- 1. Assurance that wearable narily be destined for recycling. clothing stays in the reuse A good example is The Renewal 18 PATAGONIA CLOUD RIDGE JACKET • If using fabrics of different fiber types, designing gar- ments to have one dominant THE RENEWAL WORKSHOP- ECO-FRIENDLY APPAREL FROM PREMIUM OUTDOOR CLOTHING fabric (at least 80%) BRANDS. • Using fiber types that have Workshop which estimates that strategy that combines design- better recyclability profiles as much as 65% of the goods ing for durability to maximize (e.g., polyester or 6 vs that brands send to them as reuse potential of each garment, polyurethane or PVC) “non-wearable” are salvageable sharing the resale value with • Designing garments to use a as renewed clothing. Another customers that return garments single resin type for all fiber example is Yerdle Recommerce through a trade-in value, pro- and hardware functions - which helps brands to leverage moting repair of used garments “mono-material” construc- the growing market for used to extend garment life further, tions clothing to their advantage by supporting markets by using • Increasing recycled content taking greater control over what recycled fibers, and conduct- in garments to ensure that happens to their products to ing research to find advanced markets exist to recycle their minimize brand risk, increase processes for recycling used products, ideally back into customer engagement, and to clothing at the highest functional raw materials for apparel reap additional profits. These value possible. production services collect and manage data about incoming and outgoing A few examples of brands em- inventories which not only allow Designing clothes ploying design for recyclability greater transparency for brands differently strategies include the following: to trace the flow of their prod- Outdoor apparel brands have Patagonia is aggressively work- ucts in the secondary market also been experimenting with ing towards its vision of all of the but will also different design and material products it makes being made provide valu- selection strategies that enhance out of 100% recycled material able data to the recyclability of their prod- READ ABOUT and being 100% recyclable. A the recycling ucts such as: PATAGONIA community. prime example is its Cloud Ridge Jacket, a waterproof/breathable • Reducing the different types three component shell made Patagonia’s Worn Wear pro- of materials used without from 100% polyester designed gram is a good example of a sacrificing the functional per- to be recycled using TEIJIN’s brand-driven multi-faceted formance of garments 19 Eco-Circle® chemical recycling matically sorting non-wearable mental Research Institute. Similar process. Realizing that in a true (“recyclable”) garments by fiber to Fibersort, SIPTex/FITS is based circular economy, supply and de- type to maximize their potential on visual and near-infrared spec- mand are two sides of the same value to recyclers and to earn a troscopy (NIRS) technology. The coin, Patagonia has also been better return on investment. research objective is to design a committed to creating market process for automated sorting demand for recycled materials. Fibersort Project that can handle large volumes at Its re///collection™ clothing line Circle Economy and five oth- a high rate of throughput, result- uses 100% recycled polyester, er project partners launched a ing in two levels of quality: 1) high 100% recycled down and 100% €3.53m project and received purity of fiber type for recircula- recycled wool. The company a €1.95m grant from Interreg tion back, ideally, into fibers and is also pushing the market to North-West Europe to commer- yarns suitable for apparel and 2) supply them with high recycled cialize Fibersort, a technology well characterized lower value content in zippers and buttons to that uses recent advances in near materials that can be downcy- ensure that all of their products infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to cled into other uses. “We want to are 100% pure raw materials for automatically sort large volumes preserve textile fibers for as long the next cycle. of mixed post-consumer textiles as is feasible, and as high up in the by fiber type. Once sorted, these cycle as possible. Only when they The North Face has published its materials become reliable, consis- can no longer be used to create commitment to use 100% recy- tent input materials for high value new textiles, only then should cled content for all of its polyes- textile-to-textile recyclers. Fiber- they be repurposed as stuffing for ter fabric by 2016 to increase the sort will be especially useful for car doors etc.,” says Maria Eland- demand for recycled PET. The mechanical and chemical recy- er. 5 The scope of research also Denali Jacket is one example of cling processes that require high includes developing a business this commitment. percentages of a target fiber (e.g., model for a large scale automated A sign that key suppliers are PET, nylon 6, cotton) and as low a textile sorting facility where the helping their customers to design level of contamination as possible research team will evaluate op- for circularity is YKK, one of the so they can produce salable end erational and maintenance costs, world’s largest fastener manufac- products to return to the textile end markets, supportive govern- turers is marketing NATULON, a supply chain as opposed to selling ment policies, volume of available line of zippers made from various them outside of the industry. feedstocks, and the market value sources of recycled polyester and of end products. It will also exam- designed to be 100% recyclable. TEXAID ine centralized and decentralized Located in Switzerland’s Uri can- textile collection systems and ton with satellite operations in methods of consumer education Innovations in Sorting Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Hun- to increase collection volumes.6 Two of the greatest obstacles for gary and Morocco, TEXAID is a increasing the value of the recy- charity-private partnership with clable fraction of used clothing a mission to “ensure that used Innovations in Textile are the cost of labor for manual textiles are kept in the value-add- Recycling sorting and the purity of materi- ed chain for as long as possible.” als that can be sold to recyclers. The company is part of a research In an effort to address these two Refer to consortium called the Swedish “Selected READ ABOUT constraints, some companies and Innovation Platform for Textile SELECTEDPET nonprofit organizations are con- PET Chemi- CHEMICAL sorting (SIPTex/FITs), coordinat- cal Recycling RECYCLING ducting research to develop more ed by the IVL Swedish Environ- TECHNOLOGIES sophisticated methods for auto- Technologies”

5 Recycling and reuse – by hook or by crook.” IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, 31 March 2017. http://www.ivl.se/english/startpage/top-menu/ pressroom/in-focus/recycling-and-reuse---by-hook-or-by-crook.html. 6 TEXAID, 2017 project summary 20 objective is to create regen- erated fibers and other high quality industrial materials from pre- and post-consumer textile waste. The consortium is focused on methods for chemically “up- cycling” textile and paper waste into new, virgin quality fabrics. Creating more effective markets Circle Econo- my Circle Econ- omy (“CE”) is a nonprofit READ ABOUT CIRCLE SOURCE: I:CO website organiza- ECONOMY tion based in of this report and Trash2Cash. RESYNTEX is Amsterdam, a research consortium that aims Netherlands that was founded I:CO/SOEX to produce secondary raw ma- to help build an effective infra- I: Collect AG (“I: CO”) is part of terials from unwearable textile structure for the collection and the SOEX group, which is the waste. Its goal is to design a reutilization of excess textiles. world’s largest textile sorting and complete value chain, from textile CE uses “excess” versus “waste” recycling group, with processing through to the to emphasize that it is not the and distribution outlets all over production of new feedstock inherent value of these materials the world. I:CO serves over 60 for chemicals and textiles. The that is lacking but rather the lack retail partners (including H&M, scope of research includes both of an effective, interconnected North Face, and Levi’s) in 65 mechanical and chemical recy- system to realize their value. countries, designing and manag- cling processes for cotton, nylon, The organization’s objective is to ing its customers’ retail collection polyester and wool fibers. RE- not only reclaim lost resources programs, transport logistics, and SYNTEX is exploring the use of but to also create a more cir- sorting and resale of wearable biochemical processing to trans- cular textile industry that will clothing in the secondary market form natural and synthetic fibers increase the quality and, there- or as materials to various recy- into chemical intermediates fore, market value of all textile cling markets. such as glucose for bioethanol, materials intended for recycling. purified terephthalic acid (TPA) CE’s Circle Textiles Programme In collaboration with the SOEX and ethylene glycol (EG) for the has three primary initiatives Group, I:CO collaborates with production of PET resins, protein it believes are fundamental to international research institutes hydrolysate for resins and adhe- stimulating system-level change and private sector technology sives and polyamide oligomers to make the textile industry companies to find innovative for various chemicals.7 more circular and more socially technologies which can help cre- and economically profitable. ate greater circularity of textiles. Trash2Cash, also an EU funded Circle Market is a digital online It is participating in two research research initiative, includes 18 trading platform that connects consortia projects: RESYNTEX partners from 10 countries. Its the supply and demand of excess

7 RESYNTEX: A New Circular Economy Concept. 1 December 2016. http://www.resyntex.eu/images/downloads/RESYNTEX_Introduction_Presenta- tion_2016.pdf. 21 textiles. Such a platform serves being designed to help mechani- tive collaborations to tackle some several functions that are neces- cal and chemical recyclers make of the complex challenges facing sary for building an efficient and critical decisions about where to the apparel industry. Through more sophisticated infrastruc- build plants or to focus material more extensive cooperation and ture for recycling textiles. First, acquisition efforts by enabling sharing of human, financial and it provides motivated buyers and them to identify national and creative resources, brands can sellers with the means to easily regional feedstock zones to build leverage their combined purchas- find one another. Second, it can their own supply chains. ing power to increase market be a source to define standard demand for both recycled and material specifications, provide recyclable materials. an accurate characterization of Amplifying Demand listed textiles, and allow recy- A key component of creating Notable collaborations include clers and other demand side more effective markets is driving the Outdoor Industry Association users to distinguish higher vs. more demand for high quality (OIA), the Sustainable Apparel lower quality goods. Matching recycled textile materials. It is Coalition (SAC) and the Zero quality specifications with mar- important that brands employ Discharge of Hazardous Chem- ket-based price ranges will be strategies to amplify the demand icals Programme (ZDHC). An key to creating a more efficient signal to stimulate all of the dif- interesting example of companies market that balances quality and ferent nodes of the supply chain collaborating to stimulate market cost and helps minimize risk for to be responsive. More brands demand for recycled polyester is recyclers. Third, the platform is are participating in pre-competi- the Textile Exchange rPET (recy- 22 cled polyester) Working Group. Textile Exchange is a nonprofit with a mission to inspire and equip people to accelerate sus- tainable practices in the textile value chain. The rPET Working Group, which consists of brands, retailers, fiber suppliers and sup- porting organizations, convened just over one year ago to facilitate greater cooperation of brands and their suppliers in their shared goal of increasing the demand and supply of recycled polyester. It has identified three main goals: to replace virgin polyester with rPET, to increase availability of rPET, and to create price parity with virgin polyester. Since its inception, the group has defined concepts, terms and FAQs to communicate more effectively with stakeholder audiences. It has also outlined existing sources of rPET by region, fiber type, and processing methods. Brands and retailers have also specified and documented their performance requirements. In an effort to send a clear signal to its market, the rPET Working Group has drafted a letter of intent signed by brands, suppliers and other stakeholders publicly committing their companies to increase the use of rPET in the products they purchase and sell.

Although the diversity of mate- rials used in the apparel sector as well as the issues of collection and sorting of pre- and post-con- sumer apparel scrap present chal- lenges to closed-loop recycling of apparel textiles, recent initiatives by brands, nonprofits, and oth- ers in this sector show promise in moving this sector toward a circular economy.

23 Contract Textiles

he contract textile in- rated for collection if chemical is generated from fabric weaving, dustry may not have the recyclers pay more than recyclers fabric application (e.g., chair or same visibility that the who are downcycling materials office panel), and disposal at end- apparel industry enjoys into lesser value uses where sep- of-use. Fabric mills reported PET Tdespite this sector’s efforts to aration by synthetic fiber type is waste from the following sources: understand how to design and not usually necessary. GreenBlue “false” selvedge, yarn cone waste, manufacture more sustainable did not survey mills that exclu- left-over yarns from the weaving textiles. As early as 2004, the sively manufacture residential process and damaged or rejected Association of Contract Textiles textiles, but there is some overlap bolts of fabric. Two mills report- (ACT) formed a coalition of com- between mills that manufacture ed yarn cone waste as being a panies that eventually published both contract and residential significant source of PET, as each a consensus-based, multi-attri- fabrics. cone contains as much as 0.5-1.0 bute standard for designing more pounds of unused yarn left on sustainable fabrics - the NSF/ There are three basic categories ANSI 336-2011 Sustainability of textile waste: Assessment for Commercial Furnishings Fabrics. The contract • Fiber waste: generated in the textile sector was also the first process of transforming resin to use yarns with high recycled to filament or staple fibers, content from PET bottle flake, including and was an early advocate for • Yarn waste: generated during screening textile chemicals for yarn formation processes, but their impacts to human and prior to fabric weaving environmental health. • Fabric waste: generated during fabric weaving pro- “FALSE” SELVEDGES . Pre-Consumer Flows cesses, including dyeing and GreenBlue solicited data from contract textile mills who are members of ACT. While only 18% Fiber and yarn wastes include of the mills provided data, they rejects or off-quality goods that represent some of the largest are almost always reincorporated back into the production of first producers of this sector. Nine LEFTOVER YARN ON CONE AFTER BEING facilities reported generating quality products. An exception is TRANSFERRED TO WARPING BEAM. a total of 2.9 million pounds of when fibers or yarns are colored PET textile waste in 2016. These using pigments (“solution-dyed”) the cone. The cores are made of same facilities reported an aver- or with dyes (“package-dyed”). either cardboard or rigid PET and age sales price for these mate- Colored fibers and yarns deemed have been a challenge for mills to rials between $0.04 and $0.16 as “off-quality goods” are usually find recyclers willing to process per pound. Most of the facilities sold to recyclers. them. The rigid PET cores are an indicated that they would be able excellent feedstock material for to keep PET fabric waste sepa- Most pre-consumer textile waste chemical recycling.

24 NONWOVEN INSULATION.

Survey responses and supplemental research fiber types indicate that the most common such as cotton, end markets for pre-consum- rayon, or acrylic may range from er PET textile wastes are for 5%-80% of the finished fabric. nonwoven applications such as Non-PET polymers, primarily automotive trunk-liners, sound acrylic, are used as back coatings deadening barriers and headlin- at up to 1% of the weight of fab- ers. Other applications include ric. Other challenges include very filtration media, emergency relief diverse chemistries used to color blankets, furniture cushions, yarns or fabrics as well as surface tackable office system panels, finishes for water and stain repel- home insulation, geotextiles for lency (also approximately 1% by soil erosion control applications, weight). In the last 15-20 years, carpet underlayment, stuffing for manufacturers selling fabrics for toys, fill for comforters and roll healthcare environments have goods sold as fabric. been using synthetic antimicrobi- CAR ROOF LINING AND CAR TRUNK LINING. al agents such as triclosan, metals er textile waste is to create closed GreenBlue did not include a sur- or metallic salts of silver, copper, loop systems where key manufac- vey question for the percentage zinc or cobalt, as well as nanopar- turers in the supply chain partner of fabric waste that is uncolored ticle applications of these met- to sort and collect high purity PET (“greige”) vs. colored via wet or 1 als . The diversity and complexity scrap to be used as raw materials solution-dyeing or surface print- of PET fabric constructions will to produce new fabrics. A good ing. Greige scrap is a high quality continue to be major challenges example of closed loop recycling input for mechanical recyclers. for traditional melt-and-extrude is Designtex’s collaboration with However, opportunities for me- recycling and will require more Unifi, Victor and Steelcase to pro- chanically recycling colored PET advanced mechanical recycling duce fabrics using textile waste back into first qual- techniques to overcome them. fill yarns made ity yarns are very limited due to from 100% me- the diversity of dissimilar mate- An alternative approach for me- READ chanically recycled rials used in PET fabric construc- ABOUT chanically recycling pre-consum- PET pre-consumer tions. Fabric blends using other DESIGNTEX

1. Moreis, Diana Santos, Rui Miranda Guedes, and Maria Ascensão Lopes. “Antimicrobial Approaches for Textiles: From Research to Market.” Materials, vol. 9, no. 6, 2016, p. 498. http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/9/6/498. 25 scrap.

Chemical recycling could sig- nificantly expand the amount of pre-consumer yarn and fabric scrap this sector could recycle because of its ability to suc- cessfully process the diverse array of materials used without compromising the quality of the end product, typically new PET resin. This will not only expand the volume of by-products they can sell to derive additional revenue, but it will also increase the supply of recycled yarns they can use to meet recycled content requirements of their customers or certification programs. For example, Facts, the certification program managed by ACT, is based on NSF 336, which out- lines a diverse and robust set of criteria that includes a hierarchy of end uses where waste used to make new textile products receives more achievement credits than lower value end uses such as waste-to-fuel or raw materials sold outside the textile supply chain. Chemical recycling will not only allow mills to attain higher levels of certification for their products but it will also create and grow the market for fiber-to-fiber recycled fabrics.

Post-Consumer Flows The contract textiles sector is a business-to-busi- ness industry that supplies contract READ and commercial ABOUT interiors manufac- CONTRACT turers. As such, it OFFICE FURNITURE is their customers who determine the end-of-life fate of these textile products. STEELCASE

26 Residential Carpet

Pre-Consumer Flows etc. reenBlue conducted • “Hard” carpet waste (finished Post-Consumer Flows interviews with four of carpet waste), including In 2016, the carpet industry the largest PET resi- edge trimmings, seam waste, produced and sold approximate- dential carpet produc- selvedge, QC waste, weight ly 4 billion pounds of commercial Gers in the U.S. (combined share checks, finished carpet > 18”, and residential carpet in the U.S.1 of PET residential market ap- etc. Carpet manufacturers consume proximately 95%) to understand a significant amount of the what opportunities might exist Two large carpet manufacturers amorphous polyester resin pro- for chemically recycling post-in- provided documented infor- duced globally and also provide dustrial waste streams. Man- mation for the disposition of a significant market for recycled ufacturers reported that they pre-consumer materials. Both PET bottle flake. According to were recycling on average up to companies reported that ap- the Carpet America Recovery 90% of the PET waste materials proximately 60% of their waste Effort (CARE), the organization generated from production. was sold to external recyclers responsible for managing the with the remaining 40% recycled carpet industry’s collection and Typical sources of pre-consumer for internal use, and 0% going to recycling activities, sales of PET PET waste include: landfill or to incineration. How- carpets will continue to increase • Yarn/fiber waste, including ever, from interviews it seems and are expected to reach near- sweeps (any yarn too dirty/ that edge trimmings (the leading ly 50% of all carpet sales in the contaminated to be sold edge used to pull carpet through near future. as thread waste or repro- the manufacturing process) are cessed), hard waste from produced in significant quanti- According to CARE’s 2016 an- extrusion (e.g., “lumps”, ties and are landfilled due to lack nual report, of all the post-con- “chunks”, “purges”, “drools”, of markets to recycle them. This sumer carpet recycled in the and “cakes”), yarn on tubes, pre-consumer waste stream U.S., only 11% was reported to loose yarn, and lint from tuft- could be an opportunity for the go back into making new carpets ing/shearing right recycling technology. The – 8% into backing materials and • Transition or “off-spec” fiber price range for pre-consumer 3% into face fiber. The majority waste PET sold to external recyclers of the post-consumer carpet • “Soft” carpet waste (yarn was $0.05-$0.15 per pound. The recycled is used for the manufac- tufted into primary backing, sales price to external recyclers ture of engineered resins. Nylon prior to the application of la- is similar if not lower than the 6, nylon 6,6 and polypropylene tex backing), including tufting sales price of mixed bales of PET fibers have material properties waste, waste from change- containers, which should make suitable for engineering grade over of colors and finishing post-industrial PET carpet fiber resins, but PET is too brittle for chemicals, dye waste, waste an attractive, cost com- injection molding and is not as weight check waste, sew on petitive feedstock for chemical suitable without fillers and addi- waste, burned greige goods, recyclers. tives.

1 Interview, Bob Peoples, CARE, 2017

27 50-60 oz per square yard. mer to even more heat and Unfortunately, as sales for PET For a recycler, the collection also introduces moisture, carpet are rising, the amount and processing costs are the further compromising the being collected and recycled is same for both grades but the quality of the end product. declining. Factors contributing return on their investment is The resulting resin needs to to this decline include a lack significantly different. be solid-stated to increase of end markets wanting to use • Every residential carpet re- its intrinsic viscosity if it is resin from post-consumer carpet gardless of fiber face weight to meet the specifications fiber2 and the low cost of virgin contains the same weight of of higher value end markets PET resin, resulting in a low mar- latex and backing materials. such as new carpet fiber or ket value for recycled PET fibers. The average face weight of PET packaging. Solid-stating Another factor that makes PET PET carpets is around 30 oz equipment is expensive and residential carpet recycling more per square yard which equals requires companies who challenging is that the material is about 47% of the average specialize in this process, highly dispersed as compared to total weight of the carpet. adding another $0.15/lb to commercial grades where recy- The remaining constitu- the cost of recycling. Given clers can harvest much larger ents - latex and calcium the poor economics, recy- volumes from office buildings carbonate (approximately clers opt to sell materials and other commercial and insti- 41% of an average carpet) to market applications with tutional settings. Unless retailers and polypropylene primary less stringent performance of PET residential carpeting are backing (approximately 12% requirements. willing to collect and sell used of an average carpet) are carpet to recyclers, it will contin- difficult to separate from For the most part, recyclers ue to be economically challeng- the face fiber and are con- willing to process PET carpet ing for independent recyclers sidered low value materials, are producing lower value end to efficiently collect used PET requiring most recyclers to products that cost less to man- carpet. pay to landfill them or to ufacture. Some of the more send them to various facili- common end Without higher value end mar- ties that harvest their ener- products are kets, recyclers are challenged to gy value (waste-to-energy, non-woven ma- make the economics of recycling pyrolysis, and cement kilns). terials such as READ ABOUT PET carpet work. According to So, the costs of collecting carpet under- CALIFORNIA Frank Endrenyi, an industry con- and processing two pounds layment, auto CARPET STEWARDSHIP sultant with expertise in carpet of whole carpet to obtain trunk liners, in- FEATURE manufacturing and recycling, approximately one pound of sulation, sound there are a host of reasons that PET face fiber are too high deadening complicate PET carpet recycling: for most recyclers to make a barriers or geotextiles used for profit. erosion, sediment and storm- • The average “face weight” • The quality of recovered PET water management control. of PET fiber is not the same face fiber is often too de- Ron Greitzer, President of Los in all PET carpet grades. A graded from successive heat Angeles Fiber, a leading manu- base grade carpet used for histories (e.g., fiber made facturer of loose-fill fiber sold to low-end apartment com- from 100% recycled bottle recyclers, and Reliance Carpet plexes may have a fiber face flake), wear from foot traffic Cushion, a producer of non-wo- weight of 22 oz per square and UV degradation. The ven carpet underlayment,- says yard of carpet whereas a process of re-melting and that he could not recycle PET high-end carpet may contain extruding subjects the poly- carpet economically if it were

2 CARE 2016 Annual Report. Carpet America Recovery Effort, 2017. https://carpetrecovery.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CARE-2016-Annual-Report-FI- NAL-003.pdf. p. 21.

28 COLLECTION OF CARPET BY REGION - 2016

not for the subsidy provided SOURCE: 2017 CARPET AMERICA RECOVERY EFFORT – CARE 2016 ANNUAL REPORT by CARE as part of California’s carpet stewardship program. Outlets for Post-Consumer Carpet Collected in The upside potential for re- the U.S. - 2016 cycling carpets is enormous as only an estimated 33% of carpets collected in the United States are recycled (a recycling rate of 5% of total discards), with an additional 0.6% des- ignated as “reuse” (reused as broadloom or tiles through organizations like Habitat for Humanity, etc).

According to CARE’s 2016 report, California is the state with the highest post-consumer carpet collection volume due to its extended producer respon- sibility mandate that provides subsidies to carpet collectors and recyclers (see “AB 2398 - SOURCE: 2017 CARPET AMERICA RECOVERY EFFORT —CARE 2016 ANNUAL REPORT California Carpet Stewardship Program”). However, 35% of the total carpet collected in the U.S.

29 is collected in the southeastern region. One of the technology companies covered in this study, Loop Industries Inc., is planning to open one of its recycling plants in the southeastern U.S., where it will have access to a confluence of pre and post-con- sumer PET materials from multiple industry sectors. This should be a considerable benefit for all stakeholders in the PET textile value chain operating within that region. See “Eastern U.S. PET Wasteshed”, for an interactive map of geographical locations of these selected PET feedstock providers.

Opportunities and Challenges Chemical recycling could pro- vide a viable solution for recov- ering the highest value of PET carpet fibers because unlike mechanical recycling, which has to compensate for any physical degradation of the polymer, it can return the material to virgin quality resin more effi- ciently and economically than post-treatment (“solid stating”) EXPLORE OUR of mechanically recycled resins. INTERACTIVE MAP However, chemical recycling cannot overcome the most challenging aspect of recycling other materials was too low A solution to the challenges post-consumer PET carpet, from whole carpet and edge of recycling post-consumer which requires processing trimmings to make them eco- carpeting is to design them two pounds of materials, on nomically viable feedstocks differently. A typical design for average, to obtain one pound capable of meeting Loop Indus- recycling strategy is to strive of PET face fiber. GreenBlue tries’ minimum PET content to produce a “mono-material” conducted depolymerization requirement of 80%. Chemical product, where all or a signifi- trials with one of the technolo- recycling seems to be a better cant majority of the product is gy companies, Loop Industries, option for “upcycling” the face constructed using a single resin on face fiber, whole carpet and fiber once separated, but is type. An excellent example of a “edge trimmings”. Only the face not a viable solution for whole company that has successfully fiber samples were deemed to carpet recycling unless the PET employed this strategy is Mo- be pure enough to be valuable fraction is 80% or greater. hawk Inc. They have created a feedstock. The ratio of PET to “unified floor covering” product

30 called Air.o™ for residential carpet- ing applications. READ It is constructed ABOUT MOHAWK from 100% PET AIRO materials and Mo- hawk is is creating a take-back collection network to return whole carpet to one or more of their manufactur- ing facilities where they will be mechanically recycled back into new face fibers and/or backing materials.

Mono-material products are “pure” nutrients for a cra- dle-to-cradle system. In Califor- nia, recyclers would be eager to leverage CARE subsidies in addition to the increased prof- itability that such products would bring to their businesses. An option as yet unexplored by CalRecycle, the government office that manages California’s recycling programs, is wheth- er it is economically feasible for CARE’s subsidy program to waive the assessment fees consumers pay per square yard for mono-material carpet/floor coverings. It could provide an incentive for manufacturers to create products that are significantly more profitable to recycle. It would also make these products more attractive to high-volume purchasers such as the home building industry, where assessment fees may influence their decision about which flooring products to pur- chase. AIR.O

31 Contract Office Furniture

he contract office furni- ture industry is a signif- icant consumer of PET resins for textiles as well Tas rigid and engineering-grade applications. This sector is the primary customer for the prod- ucts produced by the contract textile sector. Ninety five per- cent or more of office panels and fifty percent or more of the office seating manufactured are covered with PET fabrics. Addi- tionally, many of the substrates used to create “tackable” surfac- the lack of an effec- es or sound deadening materials tive infrastructure for are made from non-woven PET. collecting and recy- cling all types of furni- The contract office furniture ture, these companies industry has a long history of have designed most innovation in sustainable prod- of their products so uct design and manufacturing. recyclers can dis- Two companies in particular assemble them and – Steelcase and Herman Miller repurpose the materi- Inc. – have demonstrated their als as economically as leadership by incorporating a possible. The industry diversity of sustainability best through its associa- practices into their day-to- tion, the Business and STEELCASE BUVI RUMBLE SEAT day business operations, such Institutional Furniture Manufac- as working with suppliers to turers Association (BIFMA) has these facilities generated ap- screen materials for chemicals created its multi-attribute e3 proximately 1.2 million pounds of concern to optimize indoor air Furniture Sustainability stan- of textile scrap comprised of quality and minimize negative dard along with its companion at least 80% PET. Fabric scraps life cycle impacts in their supply certification program - level®. were either recycled for internal chains. They routinely search for uses or sold to external recyclers innovative materials that reduce Pre-Consumer Flows for a price range of $0-$0.02/lb, life cycle impacts, such as those GreenBlue collected representa- and sometimes are given away with preferred chemistries or tive data for fabric waste gener- for no charge to recyclers. All high-recycled content to help ated by seven panel and seating of the companies report they stimulate market demand for manufacturing facilities, includ- can separate synthetic fibers by recycled materials. And despite ing design facilities. In 2016 type and minimum PET content

32 if economic incentives justify sortation and storage costs.

Survey responses and supple- mental research indicate that the most common end markets for pre-consumer PET textile waste are for nonwoven ap- plications such as trunk liners, sound barriers and headliners for automobiles. Other ap- plications include filtration media, thermal insulation for building construction, furniture cushions, tackable office panel systems, geotextiles for soil erosion control, carpet under- layment, stuffing for toys, fiber fill for comforters and roll goods sold as fabric.

There are a few examples of READ ABOUT companies who STEELCASE OFFICE CHAIR STEELCASE are exploring ways to mechan- for more discussion of the chal- from large commercial users, ically recycle pre-consumer fab- lenges of mechanical recycling mostly from upholstered fur- ric waste back into new woven of PET textiles). niture, office seating and panel fabrics. As part of its efforts to system applications. GreenBlue make its operations more cir- was unable to collect data from cular, Steelcase partnered with Post-Consumer Flows the refurbisher community as its fabric design and marketing The diversity of applications the industry is rather fragment- brand Designtex to explore for contract textiles makes it ed and has little formal industry how best to close the loop on very challenging to recover and representation. But there is fabric scrap generated by one recycle PET fabrics. The end-of- little doubt that the secondary of its panel system manufactur- life trajectory for these textiles market for office furniture is a ing facilities. Partnering with is determined by the fate of material sink that can yield sig- key suppliers Unifi (fiber/yarn the products they adorn. The nificant quantities of PET fabric manufacturing) and Victor (fab- economics of recycling contract feedstock if there is an infra- ric weaving), the initiative not textiles is more promising than structure in place to harvest it. only resulted in the creation of residential fabrics because con- numerous fabric lines using me- sumers include large commer- Other potential sources of chanically recycled yarns, but it cial or institutional users where post-consumer PET fabric waste also developed a system to recy- there is potential for aggregat- are the contract office furniture cle pre-consumer fabric waste ing significant quantities of PET manufacturers themselves. For directly back into first quality materials. Contract office refur- example, as part of Steelcase’s fill yarns as a prime example of bishing businesses are probably vision for designing products for “fiber-to-fiber” recycling. (see the single largest source for a circular economy, it offers its Contract Textiles sector profile collecting and recycling textiles customers several options for

33 STEELCASE FABRIC BELOW: HERMAN MILLER WORK SPACE responsibly “decommissioning” their retired furniture, ensuring that they will be reused by new customers or they will be dis- assembled into material com- ponents for sale into various recycling end markets. It would be a fruitful alliance if Steelcase could open its product steward- ship services network to office furniture refurbishers to pro- vide an outlet for the PET fabric waste they generate. In general, these polyester fabrics, even when blended with other fibers, have very high PET fiber con- tent, making them an excellent feedstock for chemical recycling or for fabric-to-yarn mechanical recycling if available in a given region.

34