Sustainability and Recycling of Polyester
category
Polyester sustainability encompasses the environmental impact of PET production (fossil fuel dependency, energy consumption, GHG emissions), use-phase impacts (microplastic shedding, energy in washing), and end-of-life challenges (low recycling rates, landfill and incineration). The polyester industry is under significant academic, regulatory, and commercial pressure to improve circularity, reduce microplastics, and transition to bio-based feedstocks.
Role
Polyester sustainability is one of the most important and fastest-growing research topics in textile science, intersecting materials science, environmental engineering, lifecycle assessment, policy, and circular economy design. It is increasingly central to academic curricula and industry transformation.
Subtopics
- Microplastic Fibre Shedding and Aquatic Impact Washing polyester fabrics releases 0.1–0.9 mg microplastic fibres per gram fabric per wash. Fibres: …
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Polyester LCA of polyester (cradle-to-gate): GHG emissions ~6–10 kg CO₂eq/kg fibre (cf. cotton 5.5–18 kg, wool…
- Mechanical Recycling of PET Bottles to Fibre Post-consumer PET bottle recycling to fibre: collection → sorting (NIR spectroscopy) → washing and d…
- Chemical Recycling: Glycolysis, Methanolysis, Hydrolysis Chemical recycling depolymerises PET to monomers for true circular recycling: (1) Glycolysis: EG at …
- Textile-to-Textile (Fibre-to-Fibre) Recycling Textile-to-textile recycling faces major challenges absent from bottle-to-fibre: colour (dyes in fib…
- Extended Producer Responsibility and Policy EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) for textiles: producers pay end-of-life collection/recycling …
- Biodegradable Polyester Alternatives: PLA, PHA, PBS Biodegradable polyesters for textile use: PLA (polylactic acid, Tg 57°C, Tm 170°C) — compostable (EN…
- Waterless and Low-Impact Dyeing Technologies Supercritical CO₂ (scCO₂) dyeing of polyester: CO₂ above Tc (31.1°C) and Pc (73.8 bar) acts as non-p…
- Microplastic Mitigation Strategies Microplastic mitigation approaches: (1) Fabric design: higher tenacity yarn, tighter construction, f…
- Carbon Footprint Reduction in Polyester Production Decarbonisation pathways for polyester: (1) Renewable energy in spinning and texturing (most energy-…