THE ENDLESS RECYCLE It’s the result of five years’ development work by technical experts from three countries – and it’s described by Aquafil as its most exciting innovation. Felicity Landon reports on Econyl, a yarn made with post-industrial and post-consumer reclaim.
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ld carpets that would normally end up in landfill; fishing nets that in many cases are dumped at sea, posing a serious hazard to the environment; and plastic components such as those from the automotive sector: all these are being gathered together by Italian company Aquafil in the ultimate ‘closed-loop system’, to create Econyl, a 100 per cent recycled yarn from post-consumer and post-industrial waste. Aquafil has taken a huge step forward with this revolutionary project. The company, based in Trento, northern Italy, works in three main business areas, with nylon fibres
for carpets being the largest. Second is the production of textile filament yarn for panty hose and knitwear, and third is the production of nylon polymers for engineering plastic, including for the automotive, electronic and electrical sectors. “There are a lot of products we have developed over the years and in terms of quality and range we are by far the largest carpet yarn producer in the world,” says CEO Giulio Bonazzi. “We bring to the market 20,000 different products and at least 2500 a year are going to refresh lines or increase the products we are offering.
