sustainability
We set our target to develop a novel polyester which is not only biodegradable, but also inspiring to the fashion world.
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Plastic waste and its impact to our environment and health have been of growing concern in recent years. Synthetic fibres are actually fibrous plastics, therefore textiles made from synthetic fibres are considered to be plastics but in a different form.
Textiles, during their use and washing, release countless micro-fibres to the environment, either in air, soil or water. These released micro-fibres, in other name “micro-plastics”, are even more harmful to our eco-system.
Unfortunately, our human beings so far still do not have any good methods to prevent the releasing of micro-fibres to the environment. Although we cannot prevent the release of micro-fibres from our daily used textile products, we can reduce or minimise their impact to our environment by imparting the fibres’ biodegradability.
Once released to the environment, they can be degraded and assimilated by micro-organisms to leave nothing but CO2, water and biomass.
More than 100 million tons of polyester fibres are produced every year, which take centuries to degrade in a natural environment.
73% of waste garments are sent for incineration or land-fill.
Up to 83% of tap water samples contain micro plastics.
Up to 35% of the global micro plastics in the environment come from synthetic textile products.
Biodegradable fibres mean all the fibres that can degrade through the action of micro-organisms to carbon dioxide, water and biomass. In the absence of oxygen, methane is also generated along with carbon dioxide, water and biomass.
Natural fibres, such as cotton, linen, wool and silk are biodegradable. Chemically unmodified regenerated cellulose fibres, such as viscose, modal and lyocell are also biodegradable. Most, if not all, of the synthetic fibres are non-biodegradable.
In the textile industry, CELYS™ fibre is the only one that has been certified by both DIN CERTCO and BPI to be biodegradable while holds the same or even superior physical properties of the ordinary PET.
Biodegradation is a natural process, in which plastic is finally degraded to carbon dioxide, water, and biomass by micro-organisms.
Biodegradation of polyester takes two steps: polyester macromolecules first break down to small molecules (either monomer, dimer or oligomers), through hydrolysation catalysed by the enzyme/acid excreted by micro-organisms, and then followed by assimilation of the small molecules by micro-organisms into carbon dioxide, water and biomass.
The first step, i.e., the cleavage of the polymer backbone, is a slow process, which determines the whole biodegradation rate. In PET, its ester linkages are very stable chemically. Because of this characteristic, the hydrolysation, in other words, the cleavage of the ester linkages is very difficult and very slow. This explains why PET shows little tendency to biodegrade.
In CELYS™ fibres we insert easy hydrolysable linkages into the polymer backbones, which in turn facilitates the hydrolysation, thus greatly accelerates the whole biodegradation rate. This is why CELYS™ fibres can be compostable while PET cannot.
Industrial composting, also known as ‘composting’ or ‘commercial composting’ is a dominant way of aerobic biodegradation.
The degradation process is under a controlled environment: high temp, high humidity and high microbial activities. Usually, the compost produced can be used in urban landscaping, farms and private gardens to amend the soil.
Unlike industrial composting, home-composting takes place at lower temperatures, and less controlled environments.
Normally, the bio-activities of micro-organisms increase at elevated temperatures. Compared to industrial composting at higher temperatures, home-composting takes a longer time for organic wastes to degrade into composts.
In soils, biodegradation occurs in the presence of air, moisture, fungi and bacteria at ambient temperatures.
Its biodegradation rate is slower compared to home composting, probably due to lower temperature and lower humidity.
In marine-water, or sea-water, biodegradation occurs in a complicated open environment.
The external factors, such as types and amount of microorganisms, temperature, UV exposure, pH, and salinity in different waters can all influence the rate of biodegradation.
To date, there is no aligned global testing standards for biodegradation in marine-water.
Land-filling is a typical way of anaerobic biodegradation. It results in uncontrolled degradation that can release methane (or CH4) as well as water and carbon dioxide.
Methane is harmful to the environment if it cannot be collected and combusted in a controlled way, and its greenhouse effect is twenty-five times that of CO2.
To date, there is no global land-fill biodegradation test standards, nor passing criteria.
Composting, or industrial composting is a human-controlled biodegradation. It ensures optimal conditions for the microbial so that it is the fastest among all ways of biodegradation, and can be repeated at every corner of the world regardless of the regional natural elements.
There are globally aligned composting test standards and 3rd party certifications.
It is illegal in California, Maryland and Washington to use the term ‘biodegradable’ in marketing claims related to plastic products.
For instance, in 2021, the passage of AB 1201 in California created a requirement that compostable products must meet ASTM standards (e.g. ASTM D6400 standard for industrial composting), and be certified by third-party organisations like BPI.
The bill also prohibited the use of misleading terms like “biodegradable,” “degradable,” and “decomposable” on plastic products.
In mid 2021, INTIMITI revolutionarily launched CELYS™ compostable polyester fibre that unlocked the end-of-life biodegradation technology, enabling polyester fibres to turn into water, CO2 and biomass under special conditions. The compost can then safely return to soil, back to nature.
CELYS™ polyester fibre, first of its kind in the world, has proved its biodegradability under industrial composting conditions according to international testing standards, and has been certified by DIN & Seedling for E.U. market and BPI for NA market.
CELYS™ are working to develop a closed loop system to ensure that no textiles or waste products go to landfill at the end of the product life-cycle.
The recycling technology is already in stock (which is unique to CELYS™ fibre). We will invite brand customers to join this recycle project in the near future when volumes accumulate.
We will collect back the used CELYS™ textile products for recycling purpose. Our proprietary recycling technology will effectively retrieve useful monomers from the CELYS™ fibres, and then use the recycled monomers for reproduction of CELYS™ fibres.
In this way, the ‘natural resources’ can flow in cycles, while a stream of the waste that is not suitable for recycling purpose can be safely returned to nature through composting without causing any pollution.
