Seeking opportunities in the "chain" Green fiber industry explores "new way"

A green revolution from the textile industry is underway
.
At present, China's fiber field is accelerating the exploration of green manufacturing systems with green materials, clean production, green certification, circular development, etc.
as the core, and is committed to establishing a "wind vane" for green and low-carbon development from the source of textiles, reducing carbon footprint output, and promoting the green transformation
of the entire textile industry chain.

Green, low-carbon and sustainable development have become the prefix words
for the development of China's chemical fiber industry for a long time to come.
From the perspective of the industrial chain, green fiber is at the starting point of the textile industry technology chain and value chain, which not only plays a key role in leading the technological innovation and value creation of the entire industrial chain, but also carries the key role
of promoting the technology, fashion, green and high-quality development of the textile industry.
At present, what is the development status of green fiber in China? What are the shortcomings that need to be filled? What is the direction of development that should be targeted in the future?

Products are "favored" to be "long red" must strictly control the quality

Green fiber refers to chemical fibers
whose raw materials are derived from biomass or recycled raw materials, low-carbon and environmentally friendly in the production process, and non-polluting to the environment after the finished products are discarded, or renewable and recycled.
In the era of pursuing green development around the world, green fiber is not only regarded by many brands as part of their goal of using 100% sustainable textile raw materials, but also considered to be a green industry
that can improve the environmental performance of the industrial chain and supply chain and reduce environmental impact.
More and more industries are favoring green fibers to quickly stand on the "wind"
.

According to statistics, compared with virgin polyester fiber, every 1 ton of recycled polyester produced can replace 6-8 tons of primary oil, which shows that the development of green fiber is the only way
for the sustainable development of China's chemical fiber industry.

The state has also actively introduced relevant industrial policies to help the development of
the green fiber industry.
On April 11 this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and other three departments issued the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Recycling of Waste Textiles" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Opinions"), which pointed out the direction for the construction of a recycling system for the textile industry and put forward a series of specific goals: by 2025, the recycling rate of waste textiles will reach 25%, and the output of recycled fibers of waste textiles will reach 2 million tons; By 2030, the recycling rate of waste textiles will reach 30%, and the output of recycled fibers of waste textiles will reach 3 million tons
.

On April 21, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on the High-quality Development of the Chemical Fiber Industry (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions"), deploying the task of green and low-carbon transformation: the green manufacturing system has been continuously improved, the proportion of green fiber has increased to more than 25%, the output of bio-based chemical fiber and degradable fiber materials has increased by more than 20% per year, the comprehensive utilization level and scale of waste resources have further developed, and the carbon emission intensity of the industry has been significantly reduced
.

A series of specific digital goals have clarified the development of China's green fiber industry, and the development of green fiber industry has ushered in a period of
opportunity.

However, opportunities always coexist with challenges, and the shackles faced in industrial development cannot be ignored
.
A person in charge of an enterprise revealed that at present, a large category of green fiber, recycled polyester fiber, has developed rapidly, and the demand of downstream brands has increased by more than 20% per year, but the overall production capacity of recycled polyester fiber is still in the climbing stage
.
In the case of short supply, the counterfeit recycled polyester fiber of virgin polyester fiber on the market, as well as the incomplete traceability chain of recycled polyester fiber, shoddy charging, unclear proportion, regulatory standards, and inconsistent testing methods have caused many fiber companies to "feel headaches"
.

Industry insiders said that due to China's recycled polyester fiber entry threshold is low, the number of enterprises, the industrial scale is large, the market competition is fierce, some enterprises pursue profits, label virgin fiber products with recycled polyester fiber, and sell them as recycled polyester fiber in the market
.

The person revealed that after the label of virgin fiber is labeled as recycled polyester fiber, the market price can rise by 1,000-2,000 yuan per ton, and some can even be as high as 6,000-7,000 yuan
per ton.
For example, he said that virgin fiber and recycled polyester fiber are like inorganic vegetables and organic vegetables, there is no difference in appearance, but there are great differences in production process, process flow, cost input, environmental protection value, etc.
In the long run, there is bound to be a huge hidden danger of "bad money driving out good money", seriously undermining the healthy and orderly development of
China's green industry.

"Some companies have neither plant nor equipment, ostensibly reselling recycled fiber, but actually reselling the concept of
recycled fiber.
" Relevant people said that the current way of corporate fraud can be described as painstaking
.
For example, the bottle washing plant sells non-PET such as labels, tin foil, and bottle caps generated by bottle washing as waste, and falsely opens TC certificates, giving the downstream the opportunity to fake the truth; TC certificates are turned into "commodities" by illegal enterprises for sale; The illegal enterprise used some recycled fibers as 100% recycled fibers, and did not apply for TC certificates according to the actual proportion.
.
.

The person said that from the long-term perspective of protecting the healthy and sustainable development of the industry, this phenomenon must be curbed
in time.
"At present, this kind of counterfeiting has hit the enthusiasm of real enterprises producing recycled polyester fibers and violated the national policy of building green waters and green mountains; Second, at the beginning, there was only a phenomenon of individual fraud in the market, but if it is allowed to develop, bad money will drive out good money and destroy the entire industrial ecology; Third, 90% of the recycled polyester fiber filament production capacity is concentrated in Chinese mainland, but the terminal brand is mainly European and American brands, and the standard implemented is the global recycling standard (GRS), although the 'fake as real' product is a small part, but if it does not attract attention, it may be due to small mistakes, resulting in foreign brands distrusting Chinese textiles and accidentally injuring the entire industry
.
”

The platform helps clarify the development path

The relevant person in charge of the China Chemical Fiber Industry Association said that although China has a complete ecological chain of recycled polyester fiber, it lacks a renewable traceability system and credible certification system
.
In order to give full play to the social responsibility of enterprises in the renewable industry, improve the certification and collaboration efficiency of upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain, and steadily enhance the industry status and influence in the field of renewable ecology in China, it is of great significance and urgency to establish a trusted platform for green fiber products and build a reliable platform for recycling with advanced technology and efficient collaboration
.

It is understood that there are three main standard management systems on the market, one is the global recycling standard (GRS).

Originally established
by the Dutch company CU.
At present, a number of testing standard companies have participated in the review and issuance and management of TC certificates, which is also a management standard
with the most users.
The second is the identification and tracking standard
.
It is a self-developed detectable substance added by fiber manufacturers to recycled polyester fibers, and this additive can still be detected
after the fiber is made into fabrics and garments.
The end brand can send the final product to the fiber manufacturer for testing to determine whether the manufacturer's recycled product
is being used.
Third, the end customer directly inspects and certifies the supplier, and the qualified person will carry out designated procurement cooperation
.

According to a business source, "these three methods have certain regulatory loopholes, and they cannot be well traced
back to the entire industrial chain.
" Moreover, GRS is the entire production and marketing supervision and traceability from the source of the product to the final retail brand, and the product production and marketing links must have GRS certification to be supervised and confirmed, which has a hidden danger
to the information security of China's textile industry chain.
”

The person bluntly said that the fundamental reason for the phenomenon of virgin fibers on the market passing off as recycled polyester fibers is that China's recycled polyester fiber product certification and supervision are subject to people
.
Therefore, the construction of a credible and traceable regulatory system for recycled polyester fiber products is crucial
.

In January this year, under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the trusted system of China's recycled textile industry - Green Fiber Products Trusted Platform (STCP) was officially released
online.
The platform is jointly operated
by the China Chemical Fiber Industry Association and the National Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center.

Cao Xiuyu, head of platform operation of the National Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center, introduced that the trusted platform for green fiber products is through the national secondary node analysis technology, blockchain technology, supply chain traceability system and other information means, providing lightweight applications for the upstream and downstream of the whole industry chain such as bottle flake factories, slice factories, and yarn factories, realizing the digital transformation and upgrading of the entire industry chain from fiber to terminal products and online transactions, so as to achieve reliable on-chain production data, warehousing data, logistics data, and transaction data, so as to realize from procurement, raw materials in and out of storage, The data of production consumption, invoices and other information is transparently uploaded to the chain
.

"The platform will analyze and obtain information for the entire production and operation links of the chained enterprises and all participants, such as: products, equipment, manufacturing equipment, etc.
, and give them logos, and users can obtain full product information
through code analysis.
" Cao Xiuyu said that it is equivalent to each product having its own "ID card"
.
And at present, the platform is free to enter, and you can also add sub-users
for free and without restrictions.
Enterprises that settle on the platform only need to provide some basic information such as business license, GRS certificate, contact information
, and email mobile phone number.

According to reports, from 2022 to 2023, the platform will carry out external expansion and connotation extension, continue to improve the platform functions, expand the platform service content, gradually deepen through digital trusted transformation, improve digital trusted solutions through top-level design, and realize trusted access
to data in the industrial chain 。 It is estimated that by 2024, the platform will empower the entire industry chain to carry out digital transformation and upgrading, expand the value of the platform, create benefits, and participate in the customization of industry rules, create China's own transparent, traceable and reliable certification platform, maintain the market order of green fiber and green textiles, and finally build the platform into a world-class certification platform
.

Aim at the forefront and break through the bottleneck of key technologies

In the long run, vigorously developing green fibers has become an industry consensus, and among them, the power of technological innovation cannot be ignored
.
How should the green fiber industry fight a good technical battle?

The previously released Guiding Opinions have laid out a detailed roadmap
for technological innovation in the green fiber industry.
The "Guiding Opinions" put forward that it is necessary to break through recycling technology, carry out research on the identification and separation of waste textile components, improve the key technologies of polypropylene and high-performance fiber recycling, break through the chemical recycling technology of polyester and nylon, the recycling technology of acrylic and spandex, the recycling of waste textiles of cotton/regenerated cellulose fibers and the industrialization technology
of green pulping.
Promote the high-quality large-scale production
of bottle-piece direct spinning recycled polyester filament.

For bio-based chemical fibers, another major category of green fibers, the Guiding Opinions make it clear that the purity of bio-based chemical fiber monomers and raw materials should be improved, and the integration of stable, efficient and low-energy complete sets of technologies and equipment should be accelerated to achieve large-scale and low-cost production
.

Many insiders emphasize that enterprises producing green fibers should cooperate with the upstream and downstream industrial chains to jointly overcome the technical bottlenecks faced by the current development, solve the "stuck neck" problem, grasp the development trend of new technologies, new industries, new formats and new models, aim at the forefront and top level of science and technology, gather breakthroughs in the core key technologies of the industry, promote the construction of key industrial projects, improve product standards, achieve large-scale low-cost production, and further promote the large-scale application of green fibers in textiles and garments, industrial use and other fields
。

Obviously, China's green fiber industry is large-scale, and the demand for raw materials is high, which may face the shortage of
raw material supply.
Finding raw materials with "green genes" has become a difficult problem
in front of the industry.

Many companies have set their sights on waste textiles
.

The person in charge of an enterprise said, "There is a lot of room for
development in the recycling of waste textiles in China.
According to the "China Renewable Resources Recycling Industry Development Report (2020)", in 2019, China's cotton, chemical fiber and silk three types of textile fiber processing capacity of about 66.
1 million tons
.
It is estimated that more than 20 million tons of waste textiles are produced every year, one is the leftovers in the industrial processing field before consumption, which are basically recycled, and the other is a large number of waste clothes and textiles idle in the hands of residents, with a recycling rate of about 15%.

"If waste textiles can be rationally utilized, it will be of great benefit
to promote the development of the green fiber industry.
" The person in charge of the above-mentioned enterprise said
.

However, many enterprises frankly admit that from the current ability and level of recycling waste textiles in China, there are still certain challenges
.

The relevant person in charge of the Environmental Protection and Resource Conservation Promotion Committee of the China National Textile and Apparel Council said that textile recycling difficulties exist
worldwide.
"Recycling is for reuse, but at present, China's recycling channels are not sound enough, recycling, sorting, transportation, storage are all problems
that need to be solved.
" In terms of how to achieve the high-value utilization of waste textiles, China also needs to continue to carry out technology research and development
.
”

There is still a long way to go
to achieve the benign development of waste textiles in China.
However, it is worth noting that with the strong support of national policies, some enterprises have actively practiced
.
It is understood that some brand merchants have set up some recycling bins for recycling used clothes in specialty stores to reflect their social responsibility, and some enterprises have established a complete chain of recycling, decomposition, reprocessing, reuse and sales channels to achieve internal circulation
.

"With the gradual establishment of China's waste textile recycling system, coupled with the joint assistance of industry organizations, platform institutions, brands and enterprises, the formation of a joint force will further promote the development of
China's green fiber industry.
" Some companies said
.