The endless recycle Econyl

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.

Old 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.

“Certainly, Econyl is the most revolutionary product amongst its competitors. Others bring out new products but based on incremental innovation. Econyl is a real revolution, the first product of its type in the industry and something entirely new that is possible because of the special chemistry of the raw material.”

Three continents

Aquafil has 13 production plants around the world – five in Italy, four in Slovenia and one in Croatia, one in the USA, one in China and one in Thailand. It is the only carpet yarn company with extrusion capacity in three continents.

Mr Bonazzi says the USA is undoubtedly the biggest carpet market, but China is the market with the most promise. During 2011, the company invested heavily in expanding its production capacity in Europe and building a major extension in the USA, increasing capacity there by 60 per cent. Some €10 million was invested in its plant in China, which was built in 2010–11.

“Every year we make investments and it will continue in 2012, but not at the same magnitude,” he says. “We are now consolidating.”

What about the investment regarding the Econyl plant? Mr Bonazzi says: “the infrastructure was already there, otherwise the investment required would have been more than double of the €17 million we have spent so far” Aquafil says that Econyl is the most environmentally friendly, cost-effective solution for a variety of applications, including carpet, textile and plastics production – and it is available in a wide range of commercial grades.

Of course, Econyl is based on a very complex technology; also, in order to be energy efficient it must be adjacent to a polymerisation plant. Hence the choice was either a plant in Italy, where there was not

enough space, or in Slovenia, where Econyl was formally launched in May 2011.

“During the next two to three years we are going to fully develop the technology in Slovenia and then very likely the next plant will be built in the USA – because, as the largest carpet market in the world, the USA offers the largest potential source of the raw material, reused carpets,” explains Mr Bonazzi.

Aquafil’s overall sales are mainly in Europe, with about 15 per cent of sales going to the USA and 5–7 per cent to the Middle East and Far East, including Australia and New Zealand.

“With regard to Econyl, the markets that have most appeal are the USA, Europe and Australia,” he says. “We are seeing a great interest in the material in these markets. But also China and wider Asia are becoming more and more interested and we are starting, for example, to market the product to Japan.”

Collecting the waste

Collecting the raw material to feed Econyl production is a major challenge, of course. “We are sourcing the raw material from all over the world,” says Mr Bonazzi. “And we are trying to complete a map of what waste is available and where. Almost 100 per cent of this would otherwise go into landfill or, even worse, fishing nets are abandoned in the forest or at sea.”

Aquafil hired a specialist to travel all over the world and gather information about what is available and how best to organise the collection. “We organise everything from beginning to end,” says Mr Bonazzi.

Within the Econyl Reclaiming Programme Aquafil makes agreements with carpet companies (most of Aquafil’s clients), real estate developers, carpet collectors, fishermen’s associations, marine fisheries and others in order to expand the network of collection of waste materials that will then feed Econyl’s production. Another important feature is that this is endless; the used materials can be recycled an infinite number of times while always keeping the same high standard of quality and resistance compared to a virgin yarn.

Understanding the impact that Econyl is having on the market, the question has to be asked: will others follow? The CEO says: “Yes, it will come. We have started and hopefully many others will follow us – not only consuming recycled fibre but also reengineering their products to be more easily recycled at the end of their useful life and organising to bring back the material when it is replaced. “And we presume that sooner or later someone will try to imitate us – but it isn’t easy. You have to be strongly committed and invest a lot of money in R&D and then a lot of money to build the plant. You have to have very efficient technology and be very environmentally friendly.”

Among clients already opting for Econyl are the Italian textile group Carvico and the automotive giant BMW, which will use Econyl both for carpets and some plastic parts in its newest model. Demand from all the largest carpet producers in the USA and worldwide is strong; in less than a year, Econyl will generate over 10 per cent of Aquafil’s annual production volumes.

“During the development phase, we worked with customers so they could develop their products alongside,” explains Mr Bonazzi. “And now a lot of people, when they hear about Econyl, come knocking at our door.” n

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