A new technological platform, T_NEUTRALmanufacturers who have a certain traceability parameter for this material and whose use is measure, reduce and compensate impact on the environment.
Idea conceptualized and developed by the sisters charlotte Y mariana grandmotherAs he explained to Efe in 2021, it emerged by analyzing how to deal with the “structural, global and industry” problem of textile waste, an issue that requires a “collective response”.
“Worrying” numbers
The pollution produced by this industry makes it second most polluting in the worldin addition to doing responsible for 10% of global CO2 emissionsRemember the Gramunt brothers.
The main reason for this is the emergence of the “fast fashion” model. 92 million tons of waste per year difficult to manage: 87% discarded material ends up in the landfill or is burnedAccording to EU data, only 13% is reused or recycled.
“Laying a ton of textiles in a landfill impacts the carbon footprint of 444 kg/CO2,” he said.
A significant reduction of this waste volume will not only have beneficial effects for the environment, but also it would be profitable According to the latest report by the North American strategic consultancy McKinsey & Company‘Scaling textile recycling in Europe’, confirming that at least one-fifth of European textile waste can be recycled to produce new garments.
It is only possible to reduce CO2 emissions approximately by recovering this percentage. 4 million tons and also to create around 15,000 new jobs and a sales market of up to 8,000 million Euros between today and 2030, according to this document.
The analysis warns that “industry-wide investment is required to scale closed-loop recycling technologies and processes.”
Here is where it comes into play T_Neutralwill allow producers “Measure how much textiles they put on the market, implement measures in a structured way to reduce and improve circularity” and ultimately “make up for everything they couldn’t avoid” produce as waste.
The goal is “total circularity”
The measurement is carried out by formulas valid for different emission sources In addition to being able to calculate “how much control of the process is lost,” each production process is drawn with “as much parallelism as possible with the carbon footprint to understand and show that the bases are very similar,” according to the Gramunt brothers.
The tool combines mitigation practices and positive impacts to achieve a “net footprint”, while also providing an opportunity for manufacturers to compensate through projects in other countries financed by textile credits available.
However, this compensation is a temporary measure. “What we want from what we have” and they stated that “this will not be necessary once the process reaches full circularity”.
The platform aims to “accelerate the evolution of the current production model that is fast, greedy and unsustainable” in both resource consumption and social terms, and in this sense the sisters are optimistic. the future of the industry, even though they claim to be “we’re on the right track” responsibility and transparency to all brands.
T_Neutral plans to launch the first version of the platform from next September and continue to develop mitigation and compensation projects throughout 2023.