Previously in this newsletter I introduced and framed The Clothing Waste Problem as something that is similar to the plastic waste problem. The clothing that doesn’t get resold as second hand clothing in the United States goes abroad to developing countries including the t-shirts printed for the superbowl team that didn’t win. The clothing that no one actually wants, including those who don’t have much, gets shredded into rags. Synthetic fabrics make for terrible rags because much of the benefit we get from synthetic fabrics due to their inability to hold onto water The synthetic clothing, which is mostly polyester, but includes others such as polyurethane, and nylon get landfilled if we are lucky. If we are not lucky they end up in watersheds and eventually the oceans.
The issue of post industrial and post consumer thermoplastic polyester or all thermoplastic polyamides being post converted by so called recycling now upcycling and now more appropriately Supra cycled using molecular modification of the textile files and NOT depolymerization is an approach that is both economical and results in a product superior to the original virgin product produced without the modification initially. Therefore, this issue is not about the problem but rather the politics and fear of using disruptive technologies that work and those who fear changes that will result in improving on the existing global situation.
The issue of post industrial and post consumer thermoplastic polyester or all thermoplastic polyamides being post converted by so called recycling now upcycling and now more appropriately Supra cycled using molecular modification of the textile files and NOT depolymerization is an approach that is both economical and results in a product superior to the original virgin product produced without the modification initially. Therefore, this issue is not about the problem but rather the politics and fear of using disruptive technologies that work and those who fear changes that will result in improving on the existing global situation.