CAMPBELL HALL, N.Y. — May 27, 2021 — Building on the success of its work researching, mapping, modeling, and linking circular textile-to-textile systems in the United States, Accelerating Circularity today announced the launch of a new project based in Europe. In discussing the organization’s expansion, Founder and President Karla Magruder said: “We think of successful projects as those that can be repeated and scaled to maximize their impact. The launch of Accelerating Circularity Europe exemplifies this approach and advances our goal of enabling the industry to achieve a scaled, global, circular textile system.”

The founding members of Accelerating Circularity Europe’s Steering Committee represent leaders in global retail, circular supply chain, and textile recycling. They include DuPont Biomaterials, European Outdoor Group, GIZ, Gr3n, Inditex, Lenzing, Recover™, Recyclatex Group, Reverse Resources, Texaid, and Zalando.

Laura Coppen, head of Circularity at Zalando, said: “We are excited to join the ACPE Steering Committee to advance the industry in the ‘end of life’ product stage. With our reach as a platform, we can contribute to scaling circular textile systems and move away from linear to circular business practices. To do that we need to collaborate across the industry to scale solutions quickly, and we believe this project does just that. Our circularity strategy aims to integrate the principles of circularity into our business, with our brand partners and for our customers. We aim to ensure that products don’t end up in landfill or are incinerated and we see this project as a great way to learn and build better systems in the long term.”

Chief Sustainability Officer at Recover™ Helene Smits stated: “Recover™ believes that scalability is one of the main challenges of a circular textile industry, and we have included it as a core pillar of our strategy. Accelerating Circularity Europe can be a strong facilitator of this initiative and we are very enthusiastic to be a founding member of the ACPE Steering Committee.”

Speaking about Reverse Resources’ decision to join the Steering Committee, Sales Marketing Lead Marieke Koemans-Kokkelink added, “Creating a European-wide collaboration enables us to digitally follow (and improve) the textile material flows through circulation.”

The Steering Committee will set the strategy and make decisions for the European project. They will convene a Brand and Retailer Working Group for the development of take back programs and circular product specifications. Select collectors, recyclers, and preprocessors will comprise a Spent Textile Working Group to address challenges in collection, sorting, and feedstock preparation. As in the U.S., The European project will unfold in phases: research and mapping, modeling and linking, then trials and evaluation. The new project will expand upon the work done to date and adapt it to the European context.

There are multiple ways to participate in the project: NGOs can become Collaborating Organizations, a network of complementary and mutually supportive entities that amplify the work. Companies can join the technical working groups and can also become System Partners once the project launches the trial phase. Organizations may register their interest via ­­­­­­­acceleratingcircularity.org/stakeholder-registry.

Posted May 27, 2021

Source: Accelerating Circularity

LEVERKUSEN, Germany — May 26, 2021 — Moleskine® notebooks are replicas of the legendary notebook used by such notable people as Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and Bruce Chatwin. ‪Moleskine places great emphasis on more sustainable products and manufacturing processes and has already been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). For the covers of its ‪classic notebooks, the company relies on ‪Covestro’s advanced INSQIN® waterborne polyurethane (PU) technology for textile coating with partially bio-based raw materials. This will increase the use of alternative raw materials in the production of the PU synthetics covers.

This application focuses on waterborne PU dispersions with up to 50 percent biomass-based carbon content, reducing the CO2 footprint accordingly but offering the same good quality as fossil-based raw materials. The coating also features a premium look and feel — as befits the characteristic quality of these notebooks. Using INSQIN technology, Moleskine and Chinese PU synthetics material specialist ‪Hexin are now able to produce partially bio-based coatings for hardcover and softcover notebooks.

On the path to more circularity

“We are partnering with Covestro to perfect these high-quality, low-solvent coatings for our classic Moleskine notebook covers,” said Daniela Riccardi, the company’s CEO. “Covestro’s partially bio-based coating technology enables us to reduce our impact on the environment and improve our sustainability.”

“Working with innovative partners like Moleskine allows us to develop more sustainable materials,” explained Dr. Torsten Pohl, global head of Textile Coating at Covestro. “With our new partially bio-based raw material, Covestro allows for a total of approximately 23 percent renewable carbon in this coating, which is in line with our vision to become fully circular.”

The project is part of a global strategic program with which Covestro is fully committed to the circular economy. That’s why the company is focusing on the use of alternative raw materials and renewable energy, the development of innovative recycling technologies, and collaboration with partners along the value chains.

Posted May 26, 2021

Source: Covestro Deutschland AG