Biodegradable Polyester Aids Circular Economy

For laundry operators, concerns about microplastic pollution aren’t going away. Even if you recycle ragouts – rather than landfilling them – these polyester or blended textiles will “shed” tiny pieces of plastic into the air and water continuously. Now, a biodegradable polyester is available to help commercial launderers reduce this major source of microplastic pollution.

The product is called CiCLO®. It was developed in the 20-teens during a five-year span by two companies that formed a partnership on the effort: Intrinsic Textiles Group, a Silicon Valley tech company and Parkdale Advanced Materials, a division of textile giant Parkdale Mills, Gastonia, NC. In 2018, they launched a joint venture, dubbed Intrinsic Advanced Materials to scale up the CiCLO technology globally.

Andrea Ferris, CEO and a co-founder of the company, said that the developers were inspired to help address the problem of microplastic pollution in North America and beyond. While polyester fabrics have many benefits, they are a significant source of microplastic pollution worldwide. “Synthetics are fantastic materials for textiles, but almost all fabrics inevitably shed tiny fibers that make their way into the environment,” Ferris said. “Synthetics like polyester are plastic, which persist indefinitely because it is not inherently biodegradable. Research shows that tiny fibers from synthetic textiles (often referred to as ‘microfiber pollution’) is the main form of microplastic pollution found around the world. Fabrics shed during manufacturing, use and laundering, are leaking into every environment from soil to sea. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimated that the amount of these tiny fibers entering the oceans annually is equivalent in weight to over 50 billion plastic bottles!”

Beyond “doing the right thing,” Ferris says CiCLO makes sense for laundry operators as well as retailers of flatwork or uniforms because regulations are getting tighter. The European Union (EU) and California have recently enacted “Extended Producer Responsibility” rules that mandate actions by various participants in the supply chain to help control textile waste. These mandates, including limits on the landfilling of ragged-out textiles, have spurred a ramp up of recycling business, including TRSA supplier partner Hybridworks Chemical LLC and others. “Extended Producer Responsibility schemes for textiles are being enacted in the UK, EU and the U.S. with California leading the way,” Ferris said. “Organizations like Waste Management and Goodwill are collaborating with textile recycling companies to improve infrastructure for textile-waste collection and sorting to establish a future where waste that cannot be resold for use is recycled and turned into new textile fibers. Textile-recycling initiatives are fantastic, but do not solve the issue of synthetic microfiber pollution.”

For its part, polyester made with CiCLO is fully recyclable. Laundry operators also can blend any CiCLO inventory with conventional textiles with no problem. Products made with CiCLO remain just as durable as their conventional counterparts and can be cared for in a similar manner. The only difference is that to the extent that any fabrics made with CiCLO polyester shed fibers in the course of everyday use, those fibers can biodegrade in wastewater sludge, seawater, soil or in a biologically active landfill. The reason for that is because the polyester is dosed at a rate of 2% with CiCLO technology, which is confirmed safe for use in sustainable textiles by OEKO-TEX® PASSPORT certification. It can be dosed into virgin or recycled (rPET) polyester, and even into polyester made from textile waste. CiCLO technology allows naturally occurring microorganisms to fully biodegrade the polyester in a manner similar to natural materials like wool, leaving behind only natural elements and no microplastics.

Unitex International, Duluth, GA, has taken a lead role in the U.S. market to promote CiCLO flatwork and garments, including aprons and patient gowns. Unitex Vice President Anwer Shakoor says he’s delighted to help tackle the problem of microplastic pollution by supplying customers with CiCLO goods. “We are taking the initiative and they are very excited that we are doing this,” Shakoor said. Ferris returned the compliment, praising Unitex International for its commitment to sustainability. “We’d love to see them recognized for introducing CiCLO as a sustainable solution to this massive problem of synthetic textiles fiber pollution (aka ‘microfiber pollution’) to the laundry market. It takes real leaders to move industries forward.”

CiCLO has already made significant headway among retail outlets, including Target, Oakley and Billabong. TRSA supplier partner Landau Uniform also offers its “Forward” line of healthcare scrubs made with CiCLO, a name that derives from the word “cycle.” Another retail partner is McDonald’s, which has adopted this sustainable fabric for use in employee uniforms. There’s huge potential to reduce microplastic waste in the commercial uniform and flatwork markets, Shakoor says.

Other questions we posed to Ferris included:

• What is the cost differential? She answered that CiCLO doesn’t require a premium that puts it far above conventional polyester textiles. “We have created a product that is generally affordable for products that are produced in high volume, so that we can make the largest impact in terms of sustainability,” she said.

• Can laundry operators mix CiCLO goods with other polyester items in the wash aisle? Ferris answered that “Any products that use conventional polyester today can be redeveloped with CiCLO polyester; there’s no change in the manufacturing requirements, there’s no change in the care required. The technology is added at such a small percentage that it really has no impact overall on the product, except that biodegradation mechanism is activated when it winds up in environments where biodegradation can occur.”

• If EPR rules are likely to spur recycling of textiles, do laundries still need to worry about textile biodegradability? Ferris said, “Fabrics made with CiCLO polyester can be recycled, whether it’s mechanical or chemical, so adding the characteristic of biodegradability is not inhibiting that process. But the fact is that almost all fabrics shed, whether they are recycled or not. The benefit with CiCLO is that you have a product with the same durability and performance characteristics you require of your synthetics, which can also be recycled, and any of those fibers that inevitably wind up in the environment can ultimately biodegrade.”

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