Korean factory Hyosung continues its journey of sustainable development by using discarded fishing nets to develop recycled fibers and further investing in its depolymerization facilities.
Fiber giant Hyosung will start producing recycled nylon textiles made from discarded fishing nets in South Korea.
Hyosung signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Busan City Government and social enterprise Netspa in South Korea to produce Mipan regen Ocean, a recycled fishing net nylon.
In addition, Hyosung is expanding investment in depolymerization equipment, which will improve purity by removing impurities in fishing nets.
The company aims to produce more than 150 tons of Mipan regen Ocean per month by the second quarter of 2022.
As more brands and consumers become more proactive in seeking environmentally friendly products, Hyosung will continue to advance its sustainability plans and product offerings.
In order to establish a new resource recycling system, Hyosung cooperates with the Ministry of Environment (MOE), the Jeju Provincial Government and the Korean start-up fashion brand Pleatsmama to produce and launch the products in Jeju Island. Recycled polyester made from discarded PET bottles in South Korea. The result is regen Jeju, which was adopted by The North Face Korea earlier this year.
Due to the success of regen Jeju, Hyosung has expanded its domestic PET collection and recycling program to the city of Seoul to produce regen Seoul 100% recycled polyester.
In response to marine plastic waste, Hyosung has also expanded its regeneration recycling program to include the surrounding waters of South Korea and the port city of Yeosu, collecting PET bottles discarded from cruise ships to develop regen Ocean polyester.
Mike Simko, global marketing director of Hyosung Textiles, mentioned: Especially in the United States and Europe, people are vigorously promoting recycled products. The whole conversation about sustainability starts with brands wanting something sustainable, the simplest of which is using recycled products in their product lines. Our conversations around sustainability are now maturing. People are becoming more thoughtful as companies are setting ambitious sustainability goals and publishing them.
Hyosung recently released the results of a new life cycle assessment (LCA) comparing the environmental performance of its Creora regen elastic yarn to the original Creora elastic yarn. The study concluded that Creora regen elastic yarn reduces CO2 emissions by approximately 67% (or approximately 2/3) compared to producing 1 kg of Creora elastic yarn.
Simko added: Sustainable development is a journey. The most important advancement today is the industry’s greater understanding of the environmental impact of the textile industry and, more importantly, the desire to make improvements.
