Toray unveils &+ fibre commercial brand for sustainability

23 Sep '19

3 min read

Pic: Toray

Toray, a multinational corporation that specialises in industrial products, has announced its new commercial brand, called ‘&+’, to underpin the start of full-fledged efforts to use fibres made by recycling the used PET bottles. The purpose is to contribute further to sustainable social progress, under promotional slogan of ‘Together, We Are the New Green’.

Toray is aiming to leverage this brand to foster PET bottle recycling and to help materialise a closed loop economy by offering high-value-added fibre derived from PET bottles. It will, thereby, serve a shared interest among bottle collectors, manufacturers, and consumers in protecting the environment. Toray will position ‘&+’ as the symbol of a growing public desire for PET bottle recycling activity while doing the marketing to consumers through retailers not Japan but worldwide. It is also targeting to expand the use of high-value-added fibres from PET waste globally. In the lead-up to creating the brand, Toray developed techniques to manufacture an array of high-value-added, exceptionally white plastic bottle-derived fibres that incorporate traceability technology, the company said in a press release.

Fashion items, sportswear, lifestyle wear, work uniforms, and consumer goods are among numerous applications that have been effectively off-limits to plastic bottle-derived fibres because of contaminants in waste. Another issue has been that the plastic bottles yellow as they age, impairing efforts to create white fibres. Toray together with Kyoei Industry, developed contaminant filtering technology and advanced cleaning techniques to stabilise the supply of raw materials that are impurity-free and no longer yellowish when used in textile and garments applications. Combining these materials with Toray’s fibre production technology, it is possible to achieve diverse fabric applications and perfect dye-ability comparable to the fibres materials made directly from petroleum source and also enable the possibility of creating high-value-added fibres that incorporate with traceability technology.

One key consideration in cultivating the waste-derived fibre business is to ensure the reliability of raw materials from plastic bottles. Toray, therefore, created the proprietary Recycling Identification System, which can detect special additives premixed in the raw materials. Toray plans to setup and expand its PET bottle-derived fibre to diverse supply chains on everything from fibres to textiles and apparel, by utilising its global manufacturing sites. The company will build a supply structure to respond to customers who share the same vision of materialising a sustainable economy. As part of its green innovation business expansion project, Toray is building its position in energy conservation, biomass, recycling, and diverse other fields to deliver lasting environmental, resources, and energy solutions. Toray will continue to leverage innovative, advanced materials to help the world overcome its challenges and progress sustainably for generations to come. (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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