The Lycra Company, which is renowned for its inventiveness in providing sustainable fiber solutions, will present updates to its sustainability platform, “The Planet Agenda,” and discuss its 2030 sustainability goals at the 63rd Dornbirn World Fiber Congress (GFC) in Austria.
The commercialization of bio-derived Lycra fiber created using Qira, a next-generation butanediol (BDO) obtained from non-food corn, will be discussed by Andrea Vanderhoff, director of technology and sustainability at Qore, and Jean Hegedus, director of sustainable business development at The Lycra Company.
According to a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Hegedus pointed out that soon 70% of the fiber content in Lycra will come from yearly renewable raw resources, potentially lowering the carbon footprint of conventional Lycra fiber by as much as 44%.
The bio-derived BDO is mixed with MDI, which now accounts for 30% of the weight of the fiber and is obtained from fossil fuels. After that, the fiber is spun and polymerized, and an independent organization certifies that it meets sustainability standards.
Hegedus stressed that the new sustainable fiber will function in the same way as the original Lycra fiber and help the company and its customers lessen their environmental effect.Although spandex is frequently viewed as a pollutant in the textile business, The Lycra Company is dedicated to creating circular solutions to address this problem, according to Ceria.
