Aquafil, the group that produces nylon from waste

Recycling as a basis for innovation completely the product and the technique to create it. Aquafil is a global giant in the circular economy with factories in 7 countries and 3 continents, for a total of 18 production plants and over 2.600 employees worldwide, for the wire production for flooring and clothingFrom carpets to carpets, from swimsuits to bags and jackets. All made of recycled nylon, sourced from ghost nets that the NGO Healthy Seas, founded in 2013 to want of Aquafil, Star Sock and Ghost Diving, recovers in the seas and oceans, helping to clean them up.

AQUAFIL ECOLOGICAL NYLON

There are two sore points of this production. The use of derivatives of the Petroleum as a raw material and the enormous waste downstream of production, in homes where carpets and rugs made with nylon are dismantled and then end up in some landfill. In the United States, one of the countries in the world where this type of covering is most used, every year over 1,8 billion kg of carpet is thrown away in landfills.

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NYLON FROM WASTE MATERIALS

On the contrary, Aquafil has patented a very innovative technology which allows the production of waste materials, including old dismantled carpets, Nylon 6 fibers and polymers, but above all the famous ECONYL® nylonThe product is very effective and is obtained by recovering old fishing nets, fabric scraps and industrial plastic wasteWaste that would normally be destined for disposal, but which is subjected to A special treatment allows us to obtain the raw material "caprolactam", whose polymers are distributed to the production plants, then transformed into new yarn for carpets and clothing. With a double effect and with a double waste reduction. Less waste is created, and what would otherwise become trash is transformed into a raw material. By innovating and increasing your market presence.

HEALTHY SEAS AND THE RECOVERY OF GHOST NETS

Among the main waste materials used to produce theECONYL® we find the so-called ghost networks, abandoned or lost fishing nets that pollute the seas without our knowledge. The materials they are made of, mainly synthetic fibre derived from plastic bagsThey take hundreds of years to decompose, and in the meantime, millions of marine creatures, including dolphins, turtles, and whales, become entangled in them, slowly dying from starvation, injuries, and various infections. Every year, approximately 640.000 tons of nets and fishing gear are abandoned in the seas and oceans, representing a major source of pollution, albeit invisible on the surface.

In collaboration with the NGO Healthy Seas, which has been recovering ghost nets since 2013 with the help of volunteer divers, Aquafil contributes to the ocean cleaning and the conversion of this seemingly unusable material into a valuable resource.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION

Healthy Seas focuses on awareness raising of new generations with a series of educational activities involving schools from various countries. Education is, in fact, one of its pillars. The children's book “Echo and the Lost Captain” and “Ghosty the Diver,” the organic cotton doll inspired by Ghost Diving volunteers, were also conceived in this direction. Like them, the doll wears the orange drysuit used to stand out in low-visibility conditions during fishing net recovery operations.

The book instead tells, through a gripping story, the problems caused to marine creatures and the environment by the abandonment of fishing gear, including nets, with a dual objective: to raise awareness among children and to financially support conservation projects aimed at protecting turtles and tortoises throughout the world. in collaboration with the Herpetofauna Foundation.

AQUAFIL: A CONSTANTLY EXPANDING GROUP

From Norway to Chile, Aquafil expands year after year, signing important collaboration agreements around the world. One of the most recent is with Salmon de Chile, the Chilean Salmon Marketing Council, and Atando Cabos SpA, a cleantech company that recycles plastic to help preserve the Patagonian ecosystem.

The goal? To recover and recycle fishing nets, as well as other gear, mitigating one of the major problems of aquaculture. Suffice it to say that salmon farming, according to the The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) represents 70% of the world's food production system, and southern Chile alone supplies nearly a third of all farmed salmon. Thanks to the collaboration with Aquafil, most of the material used in the various processes will be recycled and will not enter the waste stream.

Aquafil is also taking its first steps in Africa, specifically in Ghana, where it collaborates with an association that recovers ghost nets lost by village fishermen.

"Aquafil" is a candidate for the 2023 Non Sprecare Award, in the "Companies" section. To submit your projects, follow the instructions provided. here.

COVER PHOTO: Carlino Photo for Healthy Seas

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