An 18 month ‘Untapped Agricultural Waste Project’ brings together Fashion for Good partners Adidas, BESTSELLER, Vivobarefoot, Birla Cellulose and six innovators to repurpose agricultural waste into fibre blend.
Amsterdam
An 18 month ‘Untapped Agricultural Waste Project’ brings together Fashion for Good partners Adidas, BESTSELLER, Vivobarefoot, Birla Cellulose and six innovators to repurpose agricultural waste into fibre blend.
Agricultural waste poses significant challenges for farmers in South and Southeast Asia and in many cases the waste is not repurposed and is often burned. Up to 92 million tonnes of agricultural waste is burned annually in India alone, which in 2017 resulted in approximately 149 million tonnes of CO2.
At the same time, the extraction and processing of virgin, conventional fibres such as cotton and polyester accounts for up to 39% of greenhouse gas emissions in the textile supply chain – as highlighted in Fashion for Good’s recent report ‘Unlocking the Trillion-Dollar Fashion Decarbonisation Opportunity’. The report charts a funding and solution driven trajectory for the industry to meet its net-zero ambition.
These fibre blends offer alternatives to conventional fibres and have the potential to displace virgin fibres derived from unsustainable materials such as oil. The report maps agricultural waste in eight countries across South and Southeast Asia, identifying the untapped opportunities in agricultural waste streams including rice husks, wheat straw, banana and pineapple production, which are the focus of this project.
The six fibre innovators, AltMat, Bananatex, Chlorohemp, Agraloop by Circular Systems, HempTex India and 9Fiber, will be further developing a variety of different natural fibres and fibre blends with a focus on trialling the highest percentage of agricultural waste, while also achieving the necessary performance requirements.
This first phase of the project concludes in December 2022. To further drive supply chain adoption and move beyond lab scale. The next phase of the project will pilot the agri-waste fibres from selected innovators in collaboration with partner brands and supply chain player.
Sources: Fashion For Good
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