Increasing appetite for fast fashion is contributing to high volumes of textile waste. Worldwide, 48 million tons of textiles end up as waste every year, of which 73% is landfilled or incinerated. This problem starts before clothes are manufactured, with 10-30% of pre-consumer fabric wasted in the cutting process and thrown away, meaning a loss of valuable materials and resources that could have otherwise been recirculated.

With their launch on the market in 2017, TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™ fibers became the first commercially available chemically recycled cellulose fibers. Lenzing’s REFIBRA™ technology aims to recirculate pre-consumer cotton waste from garment manufacturing, which would otherwise be sent to landfill, by upcycling it into brand new cellulosic fiber materials for clothing.

The technology combines Lenzing’s closed-loop Lyocell technology, which is widely acknowledged to be the most eco-friendly wood-based cellulosic fiber, and the recycling of cotton scraps from garment production. For these new fibers, up to one third of pulp is from post-industrial and post-consumer cotton textiles, which is combined with dissolving wood pulp from sustainably managed forests. As both raw materials originate from plant sources, the resulting fibers are 100% biobased.

Currently, the fiber is available with 30% recycled textiles as a raw material, but it is Lenzing’s vision to offer fibers produced with REFIBRA™ technology with up to 50% recycled content from post-consumer waste by 2024.

Using the closed loop process, the TENCEL Lyocell fibers produced with REFIBRA technology use 95% less water than conventional cotton, with high resource efficiency and environmental impact. These fibers are also certified as fully compostable and biodegradable, meaning that products made from it can revert back to nature. Additionally, Lenzing’s manufacturing systems allow these fibers to be identified in the final product, allowing for transparency across the entire value chain.

The fiber is also available with Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) certifying that all production processes in the entire supply chain have undergone relevant steps to ensure the integrity of the final product. Unlike mechanically recycled cotton, there is no loss of quality or performance with TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™ fibers. They retain the round cross-section, smooth fiber surface, and high tensile and tear strength of regular TENCEL™ Lyocell fibers.

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