A plan for increment of recycled polyester fibers by international leading brands
Textile Exchange is a global non-profit organization whose main mission is to promote efforts to reduce the impact of the textile industry on water, land and air in the environment, as well as human living conditions. Textile Exchange was founded in 2002, and is headquartered in Texas, United States of America. With efforts made by the Recycled Polyester Working Group of Textile Exchange to establish connections, launch negotiations and conduct promotions, over 50 international brands across the textile, apparel and retail industries, including Adidas, Dibella, Eileen Fisher, H&M, Lindex, Target and Timbaland, have jointly signed an agreement, indicating that by serving as an executor or a facilitator, they will increase the use of recycled polyester fiber by 25% under their respective brands by 2020. International brands in the textile and garment industries have made this commitment in order to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), which enables more efficient use of natural resources and reduces the carbon footprint of raw materials.
Not only have various international brands and retailers signed an agreement to increase the use of recycled polyester by 25% by 2020, but their upstream raw material suppliers have also signed the “appended” document of the agreement and jointly made a commitment to assist these international brands and retailers to achieve this goal. As regards the implementation and management of this plan, the signing members underwent assessment by participating in the Preferred Fiber and Materials Benchmark Survey hosted by Textile Exchange, which regularly investigates the increase in recycled polyester usage using 2016 as the base year.
According the PFM Market Survey published in 2017 , the amount of recycled polyester (rPET) used by member manufacturers was 47.407 metric tons. Textile Exchange explained,
increasing the use of recycled polyester by 25% not only will remove 2.8 million PET bottles from landfills, but can also reduce 35,329 metric tons of human toxins and energy consumption by 1.85 MJ, while also decreasing 122.8 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Member manufacturers participating in the promotion of this plan believe that participating in the production process for recycled polyester textiles can help to establish a more efficient supply chain operation in the textile industry, and provide more sustainable fiber options in the market. At the same time, the Recycled Polyester Working Group at Textile Exchange also organizes incentive-oriented commercial activities and educates consumers to actively engage in recycling and reduce waste of resources, in order to achieve the requirements of one of the SDGs - responsible consumption and production. On the other hand, it is also necessary to reduce the amount of non-recyclable polyester and effectively utilize natural resources in order to reduce the carbon footprint of raw materials.
Following the manufacturers’ motivation to sign the agreement, IKEA, an international furniture brand said, “IKEA is originally a company which uses resources effectively, and deems waste recycling to be a necessary responsibility and task. Our goal is to stop using any petrochemical materials to produce products by 2030, thereby fully meeting the goal of increasing the use of recycled polyester by 25% as indicated in this agreement.” IKEA stressed that they will increase cooperation with shareholders and suppliers to ensure no issues on the supply of recycled polyester raw materials in order to achieve this goal. Apart from recycled polyester, 60% of all the raw materials purchased in 2018 were renewable resources, such as cotton and bamboo, whereas 10% were pre- and post-consumption recyclable materials. In addition, 81.1% of electricity demand in IKEA’s supply chain for manufacturing originated from renewable energy. To completely stop using petrochemical raw materials by 2030, IKEA has also been actively searching for more sustainable materials.
國際品牌商增加回收聚酯纖維使用量計畫
紡織品交易所（Textile Exchange）是一個全球性的非營利性組織，主要任務為推動紡織業減少對環境中的水、土地、空氣以及人類生存條件的影響。紡織品交易所成立於2002年，總部設在美國德州。目前在紡織品交易所回收聚酯工作團隊的連結、協商、推動下，已經有超過50間橫跨紡織業、服裝業，及零售業的國際品牌廠商，包含Adidas、Dibella、Eileen Fisher、H&M、Lindex、Target，及Timberland等，共同簽署了一份協議，表示將作為執行者或協助者，在2020年前其各自品牌下的紡織品將增加25％的回收聚酯纖維使用量；紡織成衣業的國際品牌商做出這項承諾以求達到聯合國永續發展目標，可以更有效率的利用自然資源，減少原物料足跡。
不僅各國際品牌及零售商簽署協議在2020年之前提升25%回收聚酯的使用 量，其上游原料供應商也加入簽署該協議的「附屬」文件，共同承諾會協助這些國際品牌及零售商達成目標。關於計畫的進行與管理，將由簽署會員參與由Textile Exchange主持的 Preferred Fiber and Materials Benchmark Survey進行評估，以2016年為基準，定期調查回收聚酯使用量增幅。
據2017年出版的PFM市場調查報告顯示，成員廠商的回收聚酯（RPET）使用量是47,407公噸，Textile Exchange表示：
將回收聚酯使用量提升25%，不僅可將280萬個寶特瓶從垃圾場中移除，更可以減少人體毒素35,329公噸、能源消耗減少1.85兆焦耳，還能減少122.8公噸的二氧化碳排放量。
參與計畫推動之會員廠商皆認為加入回收聚酯紡織品的生產製程，可為全球紡織業建立更有效率的供應鏈運作，並為市場提供更多永續性纖維的選擇可能。同時紡織品交易所的回收聚酯工作團隊也將透過舉辦獎勵性的商業活動及加強宣導消費者積極回收、減少資源浪費等方式，來達到永續發展目標的要求-責任消費與生產。另一方面，亦同時要降低不可回收聚酯的使用量，有效利用天然資源，以降低原物料的碳足跡消耗。
針對廠商簽署協議的動機，國際家具品牌大廠IKEA表示：「IKEA原本就是一家有效利用資源的公司，並將廢棄物再利用視為必要之責任與工作，我們的目標是在2030年前停止使用任何石化材料製作產品，因此與該協議以增加25％回收聚酯使用量的目標是完全符合。」Ikea強調他們會加強與股東、供應商的合作，確保回收聚酯原物料的供應無虞，以達成目標，不僅僅是回收聚酯而已，在 2018 年採購的所有原料中有60%屬於可再生材料，如棉花和竹子，還有 10% 來自消費前或消費後的可回收材料。此外，Ikea製造供應鏈中81.1%的電力需求由再生能源供應，為了在2030年前完全停止使用石化原材料，Ikea也已經積極展開找尋更多其他的永續性材料。