Ocean fibres research welcomed by Lenzing
A new study from marine research centre the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) has confirmed that wood-based cellulosic fibres biodegrade in the ocean in a short period of time at the end of their life cycle, making them a sustainable alternative to fossil-based fibres.
Researchers at SIO, which is part of the University of California at San Diego, confirmed this finding during an independent project to try to understand end-of-life scenarios for discarded textiles.
Under various real oceanic and controlled aquaria conditions, they found that wood-based cellulosic fibres fully biodegrade within 30 days, while the same tests showed fossil-based synthetic materials, including polyester, to practically unchanged after more than 200 days.
As a major producer of wood-based cellulosic fibres, Austrian group Lenzing welcomed the outcome of the project. Board member Robert van de Kerkhof commented: “We have a circular economy business model. We take wood from sustainable forestry and use a highly efficient system of processing the raw materials to produce fibres that return to the ecosystem at the end of their lifecycle.”
