BERGAMO, Italy — October 25, 2018 — RadiciGroup’s post-consumer recycled polyester yarns, r-Radyarn® and r-Starlight® — UNI 11505-certified since 2014 — have recently been certified to the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) promoted by the Textile Exchange, a non-profit organization that operates internationally for the promotion and responsible development of sustainability in the textile industry. From October 22-24, the organization sponsored a three-day event in Milan where the key theme was “Accelerating Sustainability in Textile and Fashion”.
“GRS certification was yet another goal achieved by the Group — evidence of its customary transparency with the greatest clarity,” pointed out Filippo Servalli, marketing and sustainability director of RadiciGroup, emphasizing how measuring environmental impacts and continuously working to reduce them is always a top priority of the Group. “Indeed, these are the operative words guiding the RadiciGroup Comfort Fibres Business Area on a daily basis on its road to certifying its fibres obtained from recovered materials.”
The GRS certificates obtained by RadiciGroup cover two families of products: raw and yarn-dyed 95-percent r-PET and solution-dyed 85-percent r-PET.
Compliance with GRS requirements allows the Group to provide a third-party-verified report with every delivery of r-Starlight and r-Radyarn, certifying the content and the origin of the recycled materials used to make the product, as well as its compliance with the environmental and social requirements of the entire supply chain. Thus product requirements (covered by UNI 11505) are complemented by system requirements: a decision that responds to market demand and moves toward full traceability of the raw materials.
r-Radyarn and r-Starlight post-consumer recycled polyester yarns, are on the Textile Exchange list of “preferred fibres”, that is, fibres which can be traced, comply with precise reporting standards and give positive environmental and social results, and whose environmental impact can be calculated using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
Moreover, the GRS-certified products are in conformity with the Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MSRL) compiled within the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Programme, an initiative with the objective of eliminating hazardous chemical substances in the textile industry.
“Again with the aim of saving natural resources, and water in particular,” Servalli concluded, “the Group offers solution-dyed polyester (and nylon) yarn. Solution dyeing requires less water and energy usage compared to conventional yarn or piece dying, because the colour is added ‘upstream’ during the extrusion stage and thus becomes incorporated into the polymer matrix.”
As demonstrated by LCA studies conducted by NOYFIL SA and NOYFIL S.p.A. (Group companies engaged in polyester fibre production), solution-dyed yarn has a lower environmental impact compared to traditional yarn-dyed yarn. This difference is even greater for solution-dyed r- Radyarn, made with recycled polymer.
Solution-dyed yarn offers a number of additional advantages, resulting in excellent performance:
- Colour and additives incorporated into the fiber;
- High light colorfastness;
- High color consistency; and
- Lower oligomer release.
Solution dyeing is typically utilized for dyeing large quantities of product in a standardized production process. However, RadiciGroup is set up to apply this sustainable technique even for the production of small lots, ensuring a high degree of consistency and homogeneity. Furthermore, the company provides an in-house service for the development of colour recipes and samples of solution-dyed yarns capable of meeting any customer need for the creation of color palettes for any particular purpose.
Posted October 30, 2018
Source: RADICIGROUP