PARIS — August 29, 2019 — Thirty-two leading global fashion and textile companies gathered ahead of the 45th G7 meeting to sign the Fashion Pact as environmental protection and sustainable development has become one of the most critical topics of global development. They have committed to achieving practical objectives together in three areas: Climate, Biodiversity, and Oceans, aiming to reduce the environmental impact of the fashion and textile industry. By signing the Fashion Pact, participants and stakeholders across the industry hope to advance the sustainable development within the industry, foster a better relationship between the fashion and textile industry and environment, and ensure an overall sustainable socioeconomic development.

Ruyi Group is the only company from Mainland China to sign the Fashion Pact. As the largest Group in China’s textile industry, sustainable development has always been at the heart of Ruyi Group. From the environmentally friendly designs to sustainable production technology, Ruyi Group’s vertical industrial chain has always aimed at sustainable development. With the belief of environmental protection, Ruyi Group is committed to a cleaner, safer, and greener sustainable fashion blueprint. The coalition brings together global leading companies who continue to drive sustainability in their respective fields. Ranging from Luxury, Fashion, to Sports and Lifestyle, the coalition brings together Groups, brands, suppliers and retailers in different fashion and textile sectors. After careful deliberation, the 32 companies agreed to sign the Fashion Pact based on changes and initiatives the industry could make in favor of environmental protection. The signing of the Fashion Pact is unprecedented in the industry with extraordinary significance.

As a representative company in China’s fashion textile industry, Ruyi Group has long attached great importance to sustainable development and always integrating technological innovation with environmental protection. Ruyi Group has developed a Green Factory System, which is a combination of advanced production technology and digital technology. The Green Factory System consists of Green Design, Green Standard, Green Manufacturing, and Green supply-chain. What is even more remarkable is that Ruyi Group has built a “green supply chain+environmental textile circle” developmental pattern. This pattern is centering on low-carbon and environmental, based on the whole-process green design platform, assisted by “internet+green” technology, constructing a developmental model. By combining the brand enterprises, logistic platform, and finance capital, Ruyi Group has created a supply chain eco-circle of textile & apparel that are multi-field, platform shared, and symbiotic. It is because of Ruyi Group’s emphasis and investment in environmental protection, makes Ruyi Group become the only Chinese mainland company invited to the alliance.

To date, the alliance includes (in alphabetical order):

Adidas, Bestseller, Burberry, Capri Holdings Ltd., Carrefour, Chanel, Ermenegildo Zegna, Everybody & Everyone, Fashion3, Fung Group, Galeries Layfayette, Gap Inc., Giorgio Armani, H&M Group, Hermes, Inditex, Karl Lagerfeld Kering, La Reoute, Matchesfashion.com, Moncler, Nike, Nordstrom, Prada, Puma, PVH Corp., Ralph Lauren, Ruyi, Salvatore Ferragamo, Selfridges Group, Stella McCartney, and Tapestry.

The Fashion Pact shares the initiatives with Science-Based Targets, which focuses on actions in three primary areas of earth protection:

Stop global warming: by creating and deploying an action plan for achieving the objective of zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, in order to keep global warming below a 1.5°C pathway between now and 2100.

Restore biodiversity: by achieving objectives that use Science-Based Targets to restore natural ecosystems and protect species.

Protect the oceans: by reducing the fashion industry’s negative impact on the world’s oceans through practical initiatives, such as gradually removing the usage of single-use plastics.

This is the first time the global fashion and textile industry pioneers get together and work towards a common goal. It also serves as a sustainable development template established by Ruyi Group for other domestic Chinese companies. More importantly, it is proof that globalization brings infinite opportunities to fashion and textile enterprises. The signing of the Fashion Pact marks the alliance as an authoritative model for all companies around the world who want to contribute to environmental protection.

Posted August 29, 2019

Source: Ruyi Group

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — August 29, 2019 — Four UniFirst laundries have recently earned the Hygienically Clean Food Safety certification, bringing the number of UniFirst Corp. facilities who have reached this milestone to 56. The newly-certified facilities are located in these cities: Ontario; Wichita, Kan.; and Amarillo and Harlingen, Texas. UniFirst’s Stockton, Calif., location also qualified for renewal of its Food Safety certification for another three years.

Hygienically Clean is the quantified, validated standard and measure for hygienically clean textiles in North America since 2011, and this achievement reflects UniFirst’s commitment to best-management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by third-party on-site inspection and their capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing. The certification confirms a laundry’s dedication to compliance and processing garments and other textile products using BMPs as described in its quality-assurance documentation, the focal point for TRSA inspectors’ evaluation of critical control points that minimize risk.

This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for servicing animal processing, dairies, fruit/vegetable, bakeries, grain, and other food-and-beverage industry segments.

States with Hygienically Clean Food Safety certified UniFirst laundries (one each except where noted) now include Ala.; Ariz.; Calif. (five); Colo.; Conn.; Fla. (four); Ga. (two); Ill.; Kan.; La.; Mass. (two); Md. (two); Maine; Mich.; N.C. (four); N.H. (two); N.J. (two); Nev.; N.Y. (two); Ohio; Okla.; Pa. (two); S.C. (two); Texas (eight); Utah; Va.; Wash.; and Wis. Canadian provinces represented are Alberta (two) and British Columbia.

“More and more, we’re seeing our customers in food-related industries looking for third-party validation that our specialized Product Protection Process and our Hygienically Clean standards are consistent with HACCP and GFSI guidelines,” said Adam Soreff, director of marketing and communications at UniFirst Corp., Wilmington, Mass. “Working with a Hygienically Clean Food Safety certified laundry helps reassure them that their managed uniform program is working in concert with their own food-safety protocols to help them ensure food safety for consumers.”

The Hygienically Clean Food Safety protocol examines a laundry’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) practices, including its techniques for:

• Conducting hazard analysis;
• Determining CCPs, monitoring their control, correcting them if not under control;
• Validating and verifying HACCP system effectiveness; and
• Documenting and recordkeeping to show ongoing conformance.

Inspection and re-inspection verify laundry practices including washing procedures (detergent formulas, temperature, disinfectant, pH, extraction), drying, garment inspection and transportation. Each certified laundry plant’s operational flowchart is evaluated, ensuring these procedures (as well as pickup, unloading and sorting of soiled items and sorting of clean laundry) are mapped. Employees’ use of personal protective equipment is documented.

Inspectors also evaluate practices relevant to handling and processing textile products used in food manufacturing/processing establishments for adherence to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) directives.

Posted August 29, 2019

Source: TRSA

VIENNA, Austria — August 29, 2019 — At K 2019, Starlinger presents a closed loop system for big bags made from woven polypropylene. The sustainable concept “circular packaging” will be Starlinger’s main theme at the K show 2019 as well as at the Starlinger Open House in Weissenbach/Austria.

Worldwide, more than 380 million 4-loop big bags (called FIBCs in specialist vocabulary – Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers) are sold every year; this equals an annual recycling potential of approx. 800,000 tons of material. To turn big bags into big bags once more, the Austrian Starlinger & Co. GmbH has now developed the concept “circular packaging” for big bags made from polypropylene fabric; the well-known FIBC expert Dr. Amir Samadijavan acted as consultant for this project. The sustainable concept will be presented at the leading plastics exhibition K 2019 in Düsseldorf/Germany; live demonstrations of the technology will be the highlight of the Starlinger Open House in Weissenbach/Austria.

Circular packaging

With “circular packaging”, Starlinger introduces K show visitors to an elaborate concept for a closed loop for big bags that begins with polypropylene granulate and leads back to polypropylene regranulate (rPP) through the process steps production, usage, recovery, and recycling. A closed loop has the advantage that production occurs within a quality assurance system, and the materials used are documented in a so-called “material passport”. In cooperation with the renowned big bag manufacturers Louis Blockx and LC Packaging, Starlinger has simulated this loop and produced new big bags from fabric with high rPP content. Samples are available at K show and prove that Starlinger rPP big bags show the same quality as big bags made from virgin material in terms of tensile strength, weight, and safety factor.

A circular economy for big bags

At the beginning of a closed loop stands the creation of a uniform material stream. After use, big bags are returned to the big bag filler; this guarantees that they are similar in composition and show the lowest possible degree of contamination, as they do not enter the post-consumer stream. At the FIBC manufacturer, the used big bags are shredded, washed, and processed into rPP on the Starlinger recycling line recoSTAR dynamic, thereby yielding secondary raw materials for the production of new big bags. Apart from saving costs for raw materials, the recycling of big bags lowers the carbon footprint of this type of bulk packaging. “We have developed this concept because we would like to establish a circular economy for polypropylene fabric in which the recycled material is again processed into fabric — no downcycling involved,” emphasizes Hermann Adrigan, Starlinger Sales Director. “This can only succeed if the packaging is already designed with an eye on recyclability (design for recycling), and all process steps are perfectly matched.” To take an example, the “circular packaging” sewing process is performed without the use of polyester multifilament yarns.

Plastic fabric made from rPET flakes

Already at the last K show, Starlinger called attention to itself with a sustainable concept: the production of tape fabric from up to 100 % rPET flakes. This year, the company installed the first projects that are using this technology for the production of big bags from recycled PET in Europe and Asia. “Since we have been intensively involved in the recycling and refinement of plastics for decades, the circular economy is an extremely important topic for Starlinger that is close to our business,” adds Hermann Adrigan. “Now we have used our extensive know-how to present our clients in the FIBC sector with a sustainable solution also for polypropylene fabric.” Even without recycling options, the carbon footprint of flexible big bags is far below that of rigid FIBC containers such as drums or octabins because of their lower weight and space-saving transport.

PET recycling: a new life for PET bottles

Starlinger recycling technology focuses on recycling solutions that give new life to PET bottles. In the spirit of a circular economy, bottles become bottles once more: this is achieved with the Starlinger “recoSTAR PET iV+” technology. The recycling lines meet the strict criteria of various national and international authorities (e.g., EFSA, FDA) with regard to food contact as well as the quality requirements of major brand owners. Another option in great demand is bottle-to-fiber recycling, which turns used PET bottles into textiles such as sports apparel. Starlinger offers the entire recycling technology from a single source, from lines for solid-state polycondensation (for increasing the intrinsic viscosity when mixing flakes with fibers) up to a continuous polymer filter for finest filtration down to 15 μm.

Building on the “circular packaging” concept, Starlinger exhibits machinery at both K show stands: a tape extrusion line starEX 1600 X in Hall 16, Stand B47, and a recoSTAR dynamic 85 C-VAC with SMART feeder and C-VAC high-performance degassing module for the recycling of post-consumer waste in Hall 9, Stand D22.

Visit Starlinger at K show in Düsseldorf/Germany, October 16-23, 2019:

Starlinger textile packaging and Starlinger viscotec: Hall 16, Stand B47 Starlinger recycling technology: Hall 9, Stand D22

Starlinger Open House:
October 14-16 and 21-25, 2019, Weissenbach/Triesting, Austria

Posted August 29, 2019

Source: Starlinger & Co. Ges.m.b.H.