Eco-Friendly Fibres From Birla Cellulose

Clothing has become a fashion statement reflecting the wearer’s personality and the image a person wants to convey. However, as the fashion industry has expanded, so have concerns about the impact that clothing has on the environment, from how the fibres – the basic raw material for textiles and clothing – are sourced to what happens to the clothing when the useful life of a clothing item is over. All the stakeholders are now more concerned and are expecting the industry to take responsibility for better management of the complete value chain. Since the value chain starts with fibre suppliers, a lot of the onus falls on them to supply sustainable raw materials. This is where ecofriendly fibres have gained attention from the value chain and now also an increased share of the market. Man-made Cellulosic Fibres (MMCF) such as viscose, modal, and lyocell fill that gap and have been increasingly seen as one of the best sustainable raw materials for the fashion industry. MMCF can be responsibly produced by using a closed-loop manufacturing process, which reduces the impact on natural resources. At the end of its life cycle, MMCF is biodegradable and compostable.

Birla Cellulose

India-based Birla Cellulose is one of the leading producers of MMCF globally. Birla Cellulose has strong backward integration and operates 11 pulp & fibre manufacturing sites across 6 countries and 5 R&D centres. As a global leader in the MMCF industry, Birla Cellulose takes pride in playing a major role in the transformational journey of the global fashion industry in taking a sustainable growth path.

wood from ancient and endangered forests when consumers are using Birla Cellulose fibres.

Responsible Manufacturing

Globally benchmarked Higg FEM Scores –The Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) is a sustainability assessment tool that standardizes how facilities measure and evaluate their environmental performance, year over year. Birla Cellulose has impleKey Points mented ZDHC wastewater • Fashion is becoming key role in everyone’s life guidelines at all the fibre manufacturing sites. With • What is Birla Cellulose? concentrated efforts, all • India based birla cellulose is one of the leading producer of sites exceeded the SupMMCF pliers to Zero Progressive • Wood based fibres are totally renewable and Aspirational Level for more than 90% of the pa• Birla cellulose is a leader in responsible sourcing and manu- rameters. The data from facturing all the sites is available on • Birla cellulose has followed the ZDHC wastewater guidelines the ZDHC Gateway. While all sites already meet the ZDHC MMCF wastewater standard and all the parameters specified on consumption norms in the ZDHC Responsible MMCF standards, many of the sites are already meeting the ZDHC MMCF air emission standard, while other sites continue to work towards it.

The wood-based fibres are fully renewable and come from sustainably managed forests. Birla Cellulose is a market leader in the use of sustainable forestry practises and closedloop environmentally efficient technologies that recycle raw materials and conserve natural resources.The responsibly produced fibres provide extensive and unmatched sustainability benefits that fulfil the growing demand for sustainably designed fashion products.

Responsible Sourcing

Birla Cellulose is a leader in sustainable sourcing – # 1 in the Hot Button Report 2020 – and has achieved a “dark green shirt” ranking, confirming that there is a low risk of sourcing

Sustainable Fibres

With a strong focus on innovation, Birla Cellulose has come up with eco-enhanced products along with other MMCF offerings. Livaeco by Birla Cellulose™& Liva Reviva are the latest innovative products with a host of benefits for the value chain and the overall fashion industry. Livaeco by Birla Cellulose™ is the latest fibre from Birla Cellulose with a host of sustainability features while retaining the fashion quotient of the brand.

Key features of Livaeco are:

• Sourced from 100% sustainable forestry – Birla Cellulose

sources wood from certified forests with complete ‘chain-ofcustody’ • Responsible Manufacturing – manufactured in best environmentally sensitive facilities with EU BAT certification and lower non-renewable energy use • Transparency & traceability – Sustainability conscious consumers through scan of QR code can verify source through in-house developed blockchain based platform GreenTrack™ • Lower emissions - Livaeco has 75% lower water consumption and 65% lower GHG emissions as compared to generic viscose based on Higg MSI provided by SAC.

Value Chain Transparency

GreenTrack™ Platform – Through its pioneering platform GreenTrack™ based on blockchain technology, Birla Cellulose, along with its value chain partners, provides complete transparency for the entire journey of eco-enhanced fibres like Livaeco, Liva Reviva and other eco-enhanced fibres from a certified forest up to the consumer’s hands on a ‘live’ basis. Consumers, through a simple scan of a QR code, are able to see the entire journey of the garment. For more details, please visithttps://www.birlacellulose.com/

NEWS UPDATE

BIRLA CELLULOSE TARGETS TO SCALE LIVA REVIVA FIBRES TO 100,000 TONS BY 2024

Circular business scale up amongst the most ambitious partnership initiatives in the MMCF industry Birla Cellulose, pulp and fibre brand of the Aditya Birla Group under the flagship company Grasim Industries Limited, recognizes the pivotal role that it can play in sustainable forest management and in promoting circular economy using a collaborative approach. Birla Cellulose plans to aggressively scale up the production of circular fibre Liva Reviva to a level of 100,000 tons per year by 2024. Liva Reviva, a circular viscose fibre made using pre-consumer cotton waste and closed loop technologies comes with outstanding sustainability credentials such as significantly lower greenhouse gas and water footprint compared to generic viscose. It contains a unique molecular tracer backed by blockchain based traceability and is Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) certified. Under this initiative, the recycled content in Liva Reviva will be increased up to 30% in 2022 from 20% currently and post-consumer material will be gradually increased in the feedstock as we increase the volumes.

It is estimated that more than 90 million tons waste is generated from fashion industry every year and less than 1% is recycled, remaining going to landfill / incineration or leaking into the environment. Key barriers to the circular business model include limitations in recycling technologies, lack of infrastructure for waste collection and segregation, garments not being designed for recycling and lack of investments in each of these areas.

Birla Cellulose has invested significantly in development of the recycling technology and infrastructure and would continue to further invest in development of pre- and postconsumer textile waste recycling technologies, building the capacities for next generation fibres and developing reliable reverse logistics for collection and segregation. Birla Cellulose strongly believes that collaboration can unlock greater value for all the stakeholders where every partner plays an important role. Birla Cellulose envisions an active partnership between global brands and retail partners, value chain partners and orchestrators like Canopy and Fashion For Good in this aggressive plan to scale up the circular business model. Birla Cellulose will also create awareness about environmental benefits of next generation fibres by working closely with all stakeholders with an aim to accelerate the circular business model.