Living sustainably
Coats is working proactively with customers and suppliers to help them improve the sustainability of their products. New products are being developed using recycled materials or that can be reused or recycled by others. In 2018 Coats launched Epic EcoVerde, the first fully recycled premium thread. In addition, a waste management process action plan is being rolled out across all operations.
Leader's Voice
“In recent years, the issue
of resource scarcity has
risen up the global agenda.
Demand for resources of all
kinds is rising sharply due to
both a growing population
and increasing affluence in
emerging economies. Unless
business models change,
growing scarcity and volatility
will have a substantial effect
on business profitability and
resilience. The fact is that we
simply cannot keep wasting
the precious resources that we
have available to us.
Most of the materials we use
are synthetic, derived from
oil. It is simply not acceptable
for us to use this resource
and waste it. We must be
as efficient as we can be,
getting the most out of the
raw materials we use, and
finding ways that we can
reuse or recycle any waste that
we do produce. Or finding
someone else that can. It
makes business sense to be
more efficient and buy less
virgin materials. Moreover, our
customers are asking us about
the origins and recyclability
of our products as they strive
to achieve their sustainability
goals.”
Adrian Elliott
President, Apparel and
Footwear
Reduce our waste by 25% by 2022
Essentially there are two types
of waste that we generate;
planned waste and unplanned
waste. Planned waste is that
which we know that we are
going to generate as part of
our normal operations. This
includes packaging materials
that we receive with our raw
materials and short staple
cotton fibres and leaf matter
that we extract from raw cotton
before we can prepare it for
spinning. Unplanned waste is
created when optimal process
parameters are breached or
when residual material is left
in a process which cannot
be processed. For both types
of waste our approach is
to rigorously document,
categorise, and determine
the root cause of the waste
generation and then to follow
a standard hierarchy whereby
we seek to prevent the waste
being generated, followed by
minimisation, reuse, recycling
and finally disposal by the most
suitable means. When dealing
with planned waste we consider
our raw materials specifications
and work with our suppliers
to seek the best approach to
packaging. We also look at our
own product specifications with
a view to minimising waste
generation for our customers.
All premium quality polyester threads to be recycled by 2024
Premium quality recycled
polyester chip supply is currently
very limited. Existing recycling
technology means that the only
source of material we can use
comes from recycled PET bottles
that have been processed
through rigorously controlled
sorting processes. Even if the
collection rate increases and
the bottle sorting and recycling
systems improve there will
never be an adequate supply
from this source on its own.
Chemical recycling of textile
materials to produce new high
quality textiles is the likely
solution, but the technology for
this is still at a pilot plant stage
of development. Our objective
is to strengthen our links
directly to the chip producers so
that we can work closely with
them on increasing the supply
while also ensuring that we get
access to material while there
are shortages.
Generating less waste, and recycling
more
In 2018, we rolled out a new waste
management system across the business.
This required each manufacturing site to
identify their source of waste, develop a
detailed action plan to reduce this waste,
and put in place processes to collect data
and monitor performance. To strengthen
the system, in 2019, we have implemented
a global standard approach to waste
categorisation, adopting the European
Union’s Waste Framework Directive and the
European Waste Catalogue. Training across
all our sites is underway.
In 2019, we generated 12.5 thousand
tonnes of waste, including all elements
of our own waste even if they can
subsequently be recovered by reprocessing.
This is a 2% increase against our 2018
figures. This small increase is driven by
the improved reporting put in place in
2019 and we are in the process of trying
to restate 2018 data to provide a true
like-for-like comparison. With a more
comprehensive measurement of waste
now in place we are able to identify
more clearly the areas of opportunity for
substantial reductions, and will be working
on these during 2020.
Of our waste generated, we reused
or recycled 71% (73% in 2018), for
example the majority of cotton waste
extracted during the early stages of
fibre preparation is used in lower grade
products by other companies, and 67% of
our units send zero waste to landfill. Our
actions for 2020 will focus on reducing
packaging material waste, especially
from our suppliers, as well as identifying
and addressing the major product waste
generation points in our plants.
Using fewer, better raw materials
In 2019, we used over 102 thousand
tonnes of direct raw materials. 95%
of our products are made from plastic
materials that are derived from oil and 5%
are made from cotton.
Oil-based materials are used in our wide
range of products, from our industrial
threads to our more specialised threads such as FireFly, meta-aramid sewing thread
recommended for protective garments,
threads for automotive industry, medically
approved threads, and many more. Our
cotton derived thread remains a small
proportion of our product portfolio.
Having said that, we understand the social
and environmental risks associated with
this supply chain, which is why we are
supportive of the key global partnerships
trying to address these risks, including the
Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), and have
long had restrictions in place to prevent
the use of cotton sourced from areas
of high social or environmental risk.
Although we have very few product lines
that are derived from animal sources
(limited to wool products that account
for 0.01% of our sales), we understand
the importance of ensuring that these are
sourced responsibly. This is why we have a
specific policy on Animal Welfare.
Towards circularity
The majority of our products are made
from synthetic oil-based polymers.
We recognise that these resources are
finite. Clearly, it is vital that we use
these materials in the most efficient way
possible, looking at both reducing and
reusing our waste, as well as continuously
assessing alternative raw materials that
might be more sustainable solutions.
At Coats, we believe that considering
the large amount of plastics used in
the textile industry, the best strategic
direction for the industry is to replace
virgin plastics with recycled ones. At the
moment, the limited amount of recycled
material we use comes from polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) beverage bottles.
This is a good short-term approach;
however, we are limited by the amount
of PET bottle material available on the
market as this material is in high demand
across different industries. We expect
that availability of this material is unlikely
to grow much beyond the current level,
which accounts for about 15% of global
textile feedstock.
Given this, it makes sense for us to explore
other options and to work with others to
develop technologies that would enable
circular reprocessing of plastic textile
products at the end of life back into
new textiles, this is not yet viable on an
industrial scale, but, many companies like
us are working on tackling this challenge.
At Coats, we will continue to develop our
high-quality recycled polyester from PET
bottles and aim to meet our 2024 target
to have all our premium polyester threads
made with 100% recycled material. In
2019, 1.5% of our premium polyester sales
were from recycled material. Our demand
has increased rapidly as multiple customers
are looking to switch to recycled materials
and by the end of the year the sales of
recycled materials were running at 3.6%.
Working with our customers
Our Sri Lanka business has been working
as our test-bed for new and more
sustainable approaches to product
packaging. Our thread product packaging
has three core elements; the support on
which the thread is wound, a protective
sleeve over the wound package, and the
cartons in which a number of packages
are stored and transported. Currently
the support and the sleeve are made
from synthetic plastic materials while the
cartons are made from cardboard. In 2019,
globally, we used 7,100 tonnes of plastic
in supports, 1,400 tonnes of polyethylene
sleeves and 10,900 tonnes of cardboard
packaging. Where possible we already use
recycled materials for our packaging, but
in Sri Lanka we are now trying to redesign,
in collaboration with our customers,
our approach to packaging.
In terms of supports this is currently
focussed on the recovery and reuse
of supports. This is a more sustainable
option than recycling. We are incentivising
customers to collect used supports with
a nominal payment for returned material
and we then clean and reuse those that
are in good condition and the rest are
sent for recycling. Since we started this
pilot, in 2017, we have reused 7.6 million
cones (105 tonnes), and recycled another
2.4 million (33 tonnes). We are finding
that customers often use the income from
returned cones for community purposes,
which is an added bonus.
Our approach to sleeves is to work with
customers to see if we can remove
them entirely from at least some of our
products. The main purposes of the
sleeves are to protect the packages in
transit and to keep the thread clean when
in storage in the customer’s premises. We
have been trialling the removal of sleeves
for dark colours, and from early results this
looks like a viable option. We are now also
looking at replacing the synthetic material
used for these sleeves with a compostable
biopolymer material so that for the colours
that still need protection we can provide a
more sustainable option.
We will continue to develop these trials
during 2020 and look to broaden the
geographic scope for them.
Epic EcoVerde: The world's first 100% recycled premium sewing thread
Coats EcoVerde is a revolutionary product range, including Coats Epic EcoVerde and Coats Gramax EcoVerde, featuring 100% recycled premium sewing threads. As the only globally available 100% recycled range of premium corespun and textured sewing threads on the market today, EcoVerde offers the same proven level of performance as the industry’s leading non-recycled threads.
The process begins with used plastic PET drinks bottles being collected from consumers, sorted, cleaned, chopped into flakes and then melted down and extruded into the fiber and filaments from which EcoVerde sewing threads are made. Because it consists entirely of recycled plastic fibers, Coats EcoVerde has a significantly lower environmental footprint than virgin fibers.
EcoVerde offers stronger, more durable, precisely engineered sewing with lower repair rates, lower returns to manufacturer, lower irregulars, and increased productivity. Its property of greater abrasion resistance makes it even more relevant and the preferred choice for sewing. Furthermore, the low shrinkage property of these threads ensures no seam distortion after washing.
We also manufacture recycled metal and plastic zippers, Opti M EcoVerde and Opti S EcoVerde. Furthermore, Patrick Yarns has been producing recycled polyester yarns and garments in a range of colors based on the source of the recycled material, thereby eliminating the need for any additional dyeing processes.
Through our EcoVerde product range, Coats plans to remain an integral part of the recycled thread industry and to work with industry to develop further innovations and collaborations.;
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