Translated version
Positive carbon cotton, a yarn made from the recycling of its waste, fiber traceability and investments in cleaner energy are some of the initiatives that reinforce the strategic sustainability plan outlined by Impetus to improve its environmental credentials.
«Since its foundation, Impetus has been committed to sustainability, both at an environmental and social level. Our production processes and products are studied in order to reduce our ecological footprint to a minimum», guarantees Ricardo Figueiredo, group administrator.
A concern that today is translated into a strategic sustainability plan, based on four pillars – use of sustainable materials, greater savings and reuse of energy, circularity in the industry and transparency of the entire production process – which was recently reinforced with new initiatives.
New life to waste
This is the case of recycled yarn E*Retrace, the result of a partnership with a European spinning mill, which uses textile waste from Impetus' production process. waste
they go through a sorting system that separates the waste, which is then crushed and transformed into new threads. These yarns are then reintegrated into the company's knitted production and incorporated into final consumer products.
The goal, says the company in a statement, «is to contribute to the circular economy and zero waste movement, ensuring greater transparency and authenticity in the entire production process. The remaining waste that is not reused in this process is sent for reuse in other sectors of activity».
The company also uses other recycled yarns, produced from post-consumer waste or industrial waste mixed with virgin fibers, which reduce the amount of water needed and the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the conventional production process.
"Earth's Most Ethical" Cotton
Impetus is also incorporating in its productions Good Earth Cotton (GEC), a 100% carbon positive cotton yarn. This cotton, which is presented on its website as "the most ethical cotton on Earth", is produced in Australia using innovative cultivation techniques and in a rich and fertile soil capable of sequestering carbon, thus allowing the generation of a fiber positive carbon.
“GEC cotton is carbon positive because our sustainable and ecological agricultural production ensures that more carbon is retained in the soil and that less is released from other sources. It thus represents a giant reservoir that is a long-term sustainable solution to global warming», points out Good Earth Cotton.
Good Earth Cotton also allows for great savings in resources, as it has a high productivity per hectare. In the example mentioned on the website, jeans made with Good Earth Cotton represent a consumption of 2,271 liters of water, a value that rises to 8,000 liters when American cotton is used and 22,500 liters with Indian cotton, with a world average of 10,000 liters.
«We were one of the first companies in the world to use Good Earth Cotton and we aim to start using this cotton in most of our productions», reveals Ricardo Figueiredo.
Full-proof traceability
Both the GEC cotton yarn and the E*Retrace yarns have incorporated the FibreTrace technology, which imbibes luminescent pigments, for now only in cotton, viscose and recycled polyester fibers, which can be read along the entire production chain until they reach the consumer, ensuring product traceability. "This ensures that each member of the textile supply chain has the ability to take direct responsibility for reducing the environmental impact of the global industry, allowing the final consumer to know the entire path and environmental impact of their garment", stresses the statement from Impetus .
The company also installed Smartex technology to reduce waste in mesh production, has water treatment systems, monitoring and control of gas emissions, uses biomass to produce steam and hot water in its facilities and, since 2013, has photovoltaic panels in a large part of the industrial area for the sale of energy, an investment that was recently reinforced to also allow its use in self-consumption, not least because it has 80% of its fleet made up of plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles.
Impetus, which employs around 900 people, however, does not want to stop there and is working «on several other projects that share the common vision that a greener future is a better future, continuing to walk towards a sustainable journey and reducing our ecological footprint», he sums up.
https://www.portugaltextil.com/impetus-peleja-pela-sustentabilidade/
