Toray Industries, Inc. announced its new commercial brand, called “&+,” as part of the launch of full-fledged efforts to use fibers made by recycling used PET bottles. This is a part of sustainable social progress, under the slogan “Together, We Are the New Green.” Toray is aiming to leverage this brand to foster PET bottle recycling and to help materialize a closed-loop economy by offering high-value-added fiber derived from PET bottles.
Toray, with Kyoei Industry Co., Ltd., developed contaminant filtering technology and advanced cleaning techniques to stabilize the supply of raw materials that are impurity-free and no longer yellow-tinted due to aging when used in textile and garment applications. Fashion items, sportswear, lifestyle wear, work uniforms and consumer goods are among numerous applications that have been off-limits to plastic bottle-derived fibers because of contaminants in waste. With Toray’s fiber production technology, it is possible to achieve diverse fabric applications and perfect dye-ability comparable to the fiber materials made directly from petroleum source, enabling the possibility of creating high-value-added fibers that incorporate traceability technology. A key consideration in cultivating the waste-derived fiber business is to ensure the reliability of raw materials from plastic bottles. Toray created the proprietary Recycling Identification System to detect special additives premixed in the raw materials.
Toray plans to set up and expand its PET bottle-derived fiber to diverse supply chains from fibers to textiles to apparel, through its global manufacturing sites. The company says it will build a supply structure to respond to customers who share the same vision of materializing a sustainable economy.
