Sustainable technical textiles aiming to reduce harm through a range of measures
Sustainable technical textiles
Our technical textiles are engineered to last longer. We’re controlling a major part of the value chain of a technical textile in which we recycle in every step of production from yarn to finished product. Additionally, most of our products are easy to repair, which extends their lifespan significantly. Some of our fabrics have a second life and when end-of-life can be recycled with 5 recycling technologies.
Durable technical textiles
Our engineers have been putting decades of effort into making coated fabrics for technical applications such as transportation, tent, pergola, sports, geotextiles, agriculture, construction, bioenergy and advertising durable. Making sure technical textiles last longer is the best way to contribute to a sustainable world. Add to that our clean & care instructions and repair tips & tricks and you’ll have durable textiles and membranes that fit their purpose longer and better. A coated textile is composed of a carrier (mainly woven, nonwoven fabrics and scrims) a coating paste and sometimes an additional varnish. They are bound together for life on unique high performant machines, driven by technology.
Depending on the application, a Sioline coated fabric can last up to 25 years under guarantee and even longer.
Sustainable production
By using our durable technical textiles for sports mats, truck side curtains, truck tarps, train covers, tent structures, domes, safety nets, biogas installations, blade protection, flexitanks, sports bags, road reinforcement, big bags, boat covers, sun shading, camping tents, manure covers, rolling doors, welding curtains or pool covers, you help to create less waste, which is a great thing. But did you know that you also contribute indirectly to substantially less waste in this world?
When you have a closer look at our production process, you’ll get the picture. We’re mastering all the steps of the value chain, from yarn to finished coated fabric. This in-house production of all the components is a double reinsurance both for quality and for sustainability. We’re recycling in every step of the value chain.
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Yarns and fibres: On our state-of-the-art Sioen yarn and fibre extrusion lines we apply a no-waste policy and recycle PES en PP waste into new yarns. When our high Sioen quality standards aren’t met, the polyester and polypropylene are upgraded and recycled.
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Woven fabrics: More than 500 weaving looms operating 24/7 to make your fabric. The side trims are continuously recycled and residual yarn leftovers are reprocessed.
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Coating processes:
- The cleaning agents we use for cleaning our barrels are recycled in a closed circuit.
- PVC and other polymer residue are reused and recycled off line.
- Air purification installations purify the emissions and generate energy for heating the ovens.
- Even in packaging and transportation:
- Sioen recycles its own packaging film.
- We work with wooden pallets for transport, repair them and recycle them if repair is no longer possible.
Repair
Making things well is one thing, having the ability to repair them is another. Repair requires particular characteristics of the textiles and membranes, and a thorough understanding of the composition of all elements. Our product designers and engineers take this repair requirement into the equation. After all, you do not just want a great tensioned structure, truck side curtain, pool cover, bouncing castles, fish cage or rolling door today. You want it to be great for a long time. That is why, in addition to the durability of our membranes, repairability is an extra asset.
Our lab-experts have developed smart clean & care instructions and repair tips & tricks for all our coated textiles, that are tested on the field ever since the early sixties of the previous century.
The end results make everybody happy: durable textiles and membranes that fit their purpose.
Second life
Some textiles have second and even third lives: truck side curtains and tarps that become wallets and bags or bouncing castles and party tents that are dismantled and used as plain covers to keep your wood dry.
End-of-life
There comes a moment that the technical textile is really end of life. Then what? We want to guide our customers to the best choices and give you them the information they need. When a coated technical textile is end of life, there are several recycling options:
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Mechanical recycling: a method by which waste materials are recycled into secondary raw materials without changing the chemical structure or composition of the material.
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Recycling through dissolution of PVC: The polyester fabric and PVC coating can be separated through dissolution of the PVC.
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Recycling through swelling and delamination: The coated textile is treated with a polar solvent, causing the PVC to swell.
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Chemical recycling through pyrolysis: This process works with a pyrolysis reactor, basically a heated vessel operated at high pressures and temperatures without oxygen (or at least a limited amount).
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Incineration with energy recovery and recovery of hydrogen chloride: Incineration is typically not really considered as recycling, although there are some ways to improve the incineration process and reduce its impact on the environment.