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The Lenzing Group reports it has received further scientific proof of the biodegradability of its fibres. In a study published in October 2021, scientists from the prestigious academic research institute Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) at the University of California, San Diego confirmed that wood-based cellulosic fibres biodegrade in the ocean within a short period of time at the end of their life cycle, making them a better alternative to fossil-based fibres.
The research was the result of an independent project trying to understand the ‘end-of-life’ scenarios for textiles and nonwovens discarded in the environment.
SIO has a global reputation for being one of the oldest, largest and most important marine research centres worldwide. In this study, SIO compared the degradation processes of nonwovens made from fossil-based synthetic materials such as polyester with those of cellulosic materials such as Lenzing’s wood-based lyocell, modal and viscose fibres in specific scenarios – under various real oceanic conditions and controlled aquaria conditions. The results of these experiments are striking - while wood-based cellulosic fibres fully biodegraded within 30 days, the fossil-based fibres tested were practically unchanged after more than 200 days.
“Our business model is one of a circular economy. We take wood from sustainable forestry and use a highly efficient system of processing all raw materials to produce fibres that are able to return to the ecosystem at the end of their life cycle”, comments Robert van de Kerkhof, Member of the Managing Board at Lenzing Group.
“The textile and nonwoven industries have to change. Our goal is to raise widespread awareness of major challenges such as plastic pollution and persuade the industry to make the transition to wood-based, biodegradable Tencel, Lenzing Ecovero and Veocel fibres”, said van de Kerkhof.
The biodegradability of Lenzing fibres was also tested in the laboratory of Organic Waste Systems (OWS) in Belgium -one of the world's leading companies in biodegradability and compostability testing - which showed data confirmed by those found with the real-life measurements at Scripps.
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