On PFAS, hemp, viscose and EPR

This week my commitment to Berenschot was made public. Thanks for all the congratulations. I also gained also my third client, reaching 1/3 of my 2020 objective in terms of activity level. Whatever the alliance I do work in my commitment is to polymers and politics. Or more precisely what policies are needed to work in a more sustainable way with polymers. Several appointments this week had to do with that challenge. A challenge that for textiles alone represents 100.000.000 Tons annual production (factor 6e if you wish to calculate the investments required). If you imagine that a large fibre factory produces 100.000 Tons, that is equal to a thousand factories.

We will not reach that with small steps. I have been very much inspired by designers (seen at Dutch Design Week last month) who convert orange-peel into viscose or apples into a bio-based fibre. I am even thrilled if they are able to demonstrate products made, as have reached a daily production of 10 kg. But how nice it is, those solutions will not ever make it to mass consumption. Therefore we have to aim at people with a budget of 10.000 Euro a year, we will only do this if virgin or recycled fibres cost around 2 Euro a kilo. 

I visited today the board of Saxcell.This technology is developed by my former colleagues at Saxion University and makes a viscose from cotton waste. Viscose is one of the most sustainable fibres for mass consumption (the other one being bio-based polyester). Viscose is now made from virgin wood, but it can be made from cotton waste, food waste, wood and agricultural waste but also from plants used in a crop rotation system to regenerate soils. Hemp is a very good source, especially in coarser qualities. Besides that I am convinced that linen en hemp should be upscaled from the current 100.000 ton production level to its 1910 level (10x more). I have written this week a two-pager on promoting hemp and linen as a complement to wool, and an alternative in home textiles.

As every week, I have been working on PFAS in full English: Per- and polyfluoro-alkyl substances. I am currently the representative of the Association of Dutch Muncipalities (VNG) and discussions with government industry. This week our taskforce met for the fourth time, and I was invited to speech in the Dutch Parliament on the subject. Besides the contamination in soil and surface water, that is currently addressed, a broader approach is required. As I was told by Jan Noordegraaf, as in plastics we should move in textiles back to some 5 major families of polymers. Thus we should replace the PTFE  (of which PFAS is a precursor) in elastic fibres or in membranes by a (bio-)polymer (e.g. polyester or polyamide) alternative. In order to attain this a ban on PFAS should be announced to be in effect in 2025, and to introduce in the meanwhile Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR with a levy) on all PFAS based products. These products are not only creating health hazards but also extremely hard and costly to recycle. When blended with cotton they make cotton too expensive to recycle into e.g. viscose.    

Next week: PFAS again and a visit to the Wageningen University on sustainable textiles and natural fibres.