Circular-fiber-production – Plastic-recycling 02-04-2022 - Arhive

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Circular-fiber-production – Plastic-recycling

-Primary producers dispose of recyclers’ proposal of ‘prohibited’ waste pet bottle import, DGFT to take a call soon

Amid fear of a proportionate decline in demand and eventually price fall, primary producers of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) in India have protested the plastics recyclers’ move to allow the import of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles waste from the developed countries.

Currently, the government has kept PET bottle waste in the ‘restricted’ category, and hence their import is not allowed. But, in 2021 a group of seven leading recycling companies in India had applied to the government seeking an amendment to the government norms and change its status from ‘prohibited’ to ‘restricted’ category.

These recycling companies argued that India was facing a deficit of 93,000 tonnes of waste PET bottles and hence, which need to be imported. For this, however, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, requires to amend its import status from the ‘prohibited’ to ‘restricted’ category. Under the ‘restricted’ category, its import will be allowed with a rider which means the government may impose certain restrictions while allowing PET bottles import. Circular-fiber-production – Plastic-recycling

To this effect, the DGFT convened a meeting of various Indian stakeholders including the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, applicants, primary producers, recyclers, trade associations, and the non-governmental organization (NGO) on March 30, 2022; and sought their opinion before taking a final decision on this issue. The DGFT invited representations from the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, applicants who sought import, the Plastics Export Promotion Council (Plexconcil), Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Smriti Manch (PDUSM), among others.

In the virtual meeting on Wednesday, the recyclers argued that they have invested capital worth crores in setting up recycling plants, taken the pre-requisite environment clearances, and all other statutory approvals. If they don’t get adequate raw materials i.e. used PET bottles, then they will have to shut down their plants, render thousands of employees jobless and leave plants and machinery worth crores, defunct. Several recycling units have also borrowed working capital from various financial institutions.

“These working capital loans would require to be written off if these plants shut down their operations which will yield yet another strain on India’s financial system. Banks have already written off several large-scale loans.

Since we are ready to adhere to the environmental guidelines, there should not be any additional damage to the environment as Indian companies have been recycling plastics waste for several years. Allowing import of PET bottles/flex would help promote India’s circular economy,” said a senior industry official who participated in the meeting. Circular-fiber-production – Plastic-recycling

Circular-fiber-production - Plastic-recycling

-Asher Fabric Concepts Announces Creation of New Division

Asher Fabric Concepts has announced the launch of Asher LA, a new division that offers wholesale elevated blanks.

Founded in 1991, the Los Angeles–based company offers high-quality “Made in the U.S.A.” knits for the better contemporary, swimwear and activewear markets in addition to a variety of made-to-order textiles in different fabrications, colors and prints. Circular-fiber-production – Plastic-recycling

“Asher LA is fully vertical. We are knitting for ourselves in Vernon, Calif., and have over 40 of our own knitting machines, mainly Italian- and Japanese-made machines including Santoni and Fukuhara,” said Yael Ohana, president of Asher Fabric Concepts and Asher LA. “Our cut-and-sew facility is fully state-of-the-art and includes the TUKA INA intelligent conveyer hanger system, TUKAcut automatic fabric laser-cutter machine, Tukatech P4 automatic ‘tensionless’ spreader, a digital printer and an embroidery machine all in-house. The members of the Asher LA production team are all paid fair wages and offered benefits.”

The company aims to do its part to reduce waste in the fashion and textile industries. In addition to using a number of eco-friendly raw materials such as organic and recycled cottons as well as recycled polyester, the company reuses the waste from fabric production to create the products for Asher LA. The company also encourages customers to repurpose and reuse its dead-stock fabrics in an additional effort to reduce the amount of waste created. Circular-fiber-production – Plastic-recycling

As sustainable fashion continues to trend toward the mainstream, many consumers are increasingly becoming aware of the effects the fashion industry has on the environment. Much of the clothing waste created comes from manufacturers, with 13 million tons of textile waste being produced each year. The push for a more sustainable and circular fashion industry has focused on keeping clothes out of landfills by creating apparel from more-sustainable materials so that they can be recycled and used again.

Los Angeles has previously set a goal to send zero waste to landfills by 2050, and the Los Angeles Department of Sanitation has recommended banning the disposal of textiles in addition to phasing out single-use plastics. The city is also involved in a program created by the California Product Stewardship Council that brought four publicly funded textile projects focused on repair and reuse to four jurisdictions in the state—Los Angeles City, Los Angeles County, San Francisco County and Alameda County.

The global recycled-textile market is projected to grow to $10.37 billion by 2028, with technological innovations in the textile industry driving the market’s growth. Technologies used in various processes such as sorting and decontaminating are increasing, and many vendors are integrating technologies in the equipment used for textile recycling. Growth can also be attributed to the growing awareness of the harmful impact of textile waste on the environment.

“We are using excess premium fabrics either from over-production and/or limited or discontinued yarns to create blanks. We then launder, cut and dye the garments and ultimately garment-dye, wash and enzyme them,” said Ohana. “During the recent pandemic, Asher decided to takethese excess materials and manufacture them into masks, which then gave Asher the inspiration into the next phase of Asher fabrics, Asher LA, essentially repurposing first-quality inventory into limited-edition capsules. We are hoping to make a small dent in the amount of waste that goes into landfills and in the energy required to make new fabrics.” Circular-fiber-production – Plastic-recycling

Asher Fabric Concepts Announces Creation of New Division

-Primary producers dispose of recyclers’ proposal of ‘prohibited’ waste-pet-bottle-import, DGFT to take a call soon

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Circular-fiber-production – Plastic-recycling

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