Xinxiang Bailu achieves ‘green factory’ status
China-based fibre developer Xinxiang Chemical Fiber (Xinxiang Bailu), a major producer of elastane, regenerated cellulose staple fibre and manmade cellulosic filaments such as viscose headquartered in the city of Xinxiang in Henan province, has been selected by provincial administrators as among Henan’s most “green” manufacturers.
According to a list issued by the local industry and information technology ministry, Xinxiang Bailu now has “green factory” status, meaning it has demonstrated favourable levels of carbon emissions, energy consumption and resource management, including an upgraded in-house wastewater treatment system.
The company was an early member of China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC)’s China Textile and Apparel Industry Whole Life Cycle Assessment (CNTAC-LCA) working group, established in December 2020. One of its products, Bailu-Eco, is made from pulp containing 5% post-consumer recycled cotton and the business has also pledged to obtain 50% of all feedstock from “next-generation” resources such as agricultural by-products and textile waste by 2030, as a signatory of Canadian non-profit CanopyStyle’s ‘Next Generation Vision for Viscose’.
As per Canopy guidelines, Xinxiang Bailu is a designated ‘dark green shirt’ manufacturer, its highest ranking. The producer is currently working towards further reducing its energy consumption, improving energy usage and scaling up productivity, it said, along with pursuing an internal “zero carbon” strategy for manmade cellulosic fibres (MMCFs) and its own “green” elastane and filament projects, in line with China’s 14th five-year plan.
Learn more about the challenges faced by manufacturers of wood-based MMCFs like viscose in WSA here.
A forest in Zhengzhou, Henan’s capital city. Credit: Jéan Béller via Unsplash.
