Sustainability Solution - Recycled Polyester Verification for Apparel & Footwear

With growing environmental awareness among consumers purchasing decisions are driven by product attributes like sustainability, climate-neutral, recycling and up-cycling.

Overview

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most common polymer used in consumer products, representing 18% of the market share of all plastic materials produced. The primary applications are in the texiles and packaging industries. PET is known as PES in the fiber industry and is the preferred man-made fiber.

Post-consumer PET from bottles is an important soure of recycling and up-cycling for the industry, with 8% of the world production of PET fibres comprisedd of reycled PET (R-PET). The increased demand of R-PET is driven by end users and the commitment of consumer brands to reach circular economic sustainability.

As more and more consumers are looking for environmentally friendly products, it has become increasingly important for brands and manufacturers to verify the “green” attributes of their products. Products that are labeled to indicate usage of R-PET represent a definitive added value for consumers.

Intertek Solution

Intertek supports our customers’ efforts in incorporating sustainability into your products with our newly developed method to help verify the authenticity of PET bottles used in yarn, textile and garment production, in order to help minimize your environmental footprint.

Methodology

According to our studies, R-PET from bottles can be identified by analyzing the typical marker found in PET bottles, but not in virgin PET/PES for fibre production. Intertek’s approach is based on determining a unique marker for R-PET from bottles using chemical analysis, so that our customers are able to verify the use of R-PET from bottles in the products.

Areas of Application

 

• Vendors/Factories: Checking of yarns, fabric and garments
• Brand/Buyers: Verification of recycled polyester claim