Fiber and fabric producers take on the challenging pursuit of C2C certification
In September this year, imat-uve, a development and engineering company based in Mönchengladbach, Germany, intends to apply for Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certification for an automotive interior fabric made entirely from mixed fiber post-consumer clothing waste. If successful, this will be a very major achievement, because not only are the automotive industry’s own quality standards …
Top technologies for the processing of high-performance fibers
The textile machinery branch of Germany’s VDMA, the Frankfurt-headquartered mechanical engineering industry association, held a series of webinars showcasing the technologies of some 30 of its members between June and December 2020. Understandably, many of them concerned the sudden demand for facemasks and PPE last year – in which meltblown polypropylene microfibers proved such a …
The textile recycling black hole
New legislative measures aimed at protecting the environment within the European Union are likely to make things extremely difficult for synthetic fiber producers in the coming years. The European Green Deal will see €750 billion pumped into a wide range of projects with the overall aim of making the entire continent climate neutral by 2050. …
COVID-19 adds urgency in the move toward technology with remote capability
For the past few years now, Industry 4.0 concepts have been introduced by the leading European suppliers of technologies for the production of synthetic fibers and nonwovens. In 2020, some of these new ideas have been tested to the full. Most notably, remote support services to customers have not just been in demand, but proved …
Mixed messages – the UK is at odds with the rest of Europe once again, this time over flushability
The further development of plastic-free and flushable products will be key themes at INDA’s World of Wipes (WOW) 2020, which will now be an all-virtual event Aug. 24-27. For my own presentation at the event, I provided the half-jokey title “London: Why do all the problems start in the pesky UK’s capital?” back in January. …