January 2020 In News
In my new monthly review, we’ll go through some of the most important sustainability news from the past month. Without further ado, here we go.
First Renewably Sourced Nylon Introduced For Wide Use
Genomatica, a company from San Diego, announced that it has produced the first ton of a key ingredient for nylon-6, a fiber made from plants instead of crude oil. According to them, conventional nylon is responsible for around 60 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. Their invention is thus very important and they will share its further production and distribution with Aquafil, Italian company responsible for the invention of Econyl. Read more on the Sourcing Journal.
China To Ban Single-Use Plastics
China, one of the biggest countries and plastic polluters in the world, has finally unveiled a plan to reduce plastic waste. By the end of this year, major cities will be banned from using non-degradable bags and restaurants will be banned from using single-use straws. This is just the beginning but it’s an encouraging step towards a greener future. Read more on the BBC.
Copenhagen Fashion Week Unveils New Sustainability Plan
At the opening of CFW season autumn/winter 2020, the chief executive of CFW Cecilie Thorsmark, unveiled their Sustainability Action Plan 2020-2022. They have introduced new minimum sustainability requirements in order for brands to participate in the official show schedule. Pledging not to destroy unsold clothes, using at least 50 percent certified, organic, upcycled or recycled textiles in all collections, using only sustainable packaging and having zero-waste set designs for their shows are just some of them. Read more on Fashion United.
The Philippines Making Roads With Plastic Waste
Philippine companies San Miguel Corp. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. started using discarded shopping bags, plastic packaging and other plastic waste to fire cement plants and build roads. The Philippines is one of the biggest plastic polluters in the world so the use of plastic waste as an alternative to coal or road surface material is really encouraging. Read more on Bloomberg.
Circulose Fabric Gets Its First Major Client
Re:Newcell has signed a deal with H&M which became the first retailer to widely use their Circulose fabric. Circulose is made from recycled clothing and garment production waste. The one that H&M will be using is made from upcycled cotton jean fabric (50%) and viscose sourced from FSC-certified wood (50%). This is not a surprise since H&M invested in Re:Newcell in 2017. and is committed to sustainability as far as fabrics are concerned. I’m still waiting to see what they’ll do about human rights and overproduction. Read more on Hypebeast.
Nordstrom Launches Second Hand Stor
On 31st of January Nordstrom has introduced its second-hand shopping services called See You Tomorrow. They launched the store online and in their physical store in New York, and started offering returned or damaged items from their archive but will also accept pre-owned products from customers to sell in exchange for Nordstrom gift cards. Read more on Business Of Fashion.
Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash.