Italian yarn maker RadiciGroup is beginning 2020 under the banner of sustainability with the launch of a range of yarns created using recycled nylon and the acquisition of Italy’s Zeta Polimeri.
The launch of the Renycle yarn range and its acquisition of Zeta Polimeri, a company specialised in the recovery of synthetic fibre and thermoplastics, fall within the company’s strategy aimed at environmental protection and meeting the requests of an increasingly demanding market.
At trade show Domotex, taking place in Germany from 10-13 January, RadiciGroup is exhibiting a number of innovative solutions for the recovered fibres sector targeted at fashion fabrics, furnishings and automotive applications. They are the result of the group’s vertically integrated nylon production and the synergies among its various business areas, from chemicals to engineering polymers and synthetic yarns.
“We are working on a puzzle now close to completion,” said Angelo Radici, president of RadiciGroup. “Our group has always made effort and investments to improve the sustainability of its products and processes. We have long experience in the recovery and reuse of the industrial scrap from our processes to give them a second life as secondary raw materials in the polymer industry. With these new products we are looking to take centre stage in the world of sustainable textiles.”
At RadiciGroup, all production scraps become resources. For some time, the group has had the expertise to sort the various polymer scraps and select the most appropriate new use for each of them in the field of engineering polymers.
With Renycle, the group has the analogous capability to produce yarn for fashion, textile flooring, rugs and fitted carpets.
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By GlobalDataRenycle reduces the need for new raw materials of fossil origin, thus decreasing the overall environmental impact while providing the same the high-level technical characteristics the market is accustomed to. Moreover, it is 100% recyclable at the end of its life.
The first preliminary measurements have shown that this new range of products features environmental performance that compares extremely favourably to virgin PA6 polymer, the company says.
“Renycle allows for an energy saving of over 87% and water saving of over 90%, all the while maintaining the same quality performance,” explained Nicola Agnoli, manager of the RadiciGroup Fibres Business Area. “Moreover, CO2 emissions are reduced by almost 90%.”
The acquisition of Zeta Polimeri, an Italian company 100% focused on pre- and post-consumer material recovery, fits very well into the RadiciGroup sustainable innovation plan.
“We have collaborated with Zeta Polimeri for many years, and we have come to appreciate their rigorous and competent approach to the selection and processing of material,” Angelo Radici added. “By combining their know-how with the synergies among our business areas, we can team up for the optimal reuse of process scraps and offer our customers high performance, sustainable products.”
Domenico Zulato, managing director of Zeta Polimeri, adds: “In RadiciGroup, we have found a partner that is both reliable and capable of ensuring the continuity of our business and, like us, equally concerned with environmental protection issues, particularly recycling and green energy, as well as product quality. Working together, we will be able to offer our services as a supplier of excellent raw materials made from recycled nylon scraps, not only to the polymer market but also to the textile industry.”
