Super Textile Wins TUV Recycled Materials Certification

On July 21 the Super Textile Corp. and TUV Rheinland Taiwan, in cooperation with the Taiwan Textile Federation, held a symposium on the "3Rs" (reduce, reuse, recycle) of materials, attracting more than 100 personnel from Taiwan's textile manufacturing sector.

The event also included a ceremony during which Super Textile, one of Taiwan's most experienced textile producers, was awarded TUV certification for materials recycling-the first such certification in the world.

Super Textile has been involved in the development of eco-fabrics from recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles for more than 10 years, cooperating with other firms and acquiring top-notch technology.

The first step in making eco-fabrics from recycled PET bottles, the company said, is the choice of bottles marked on the bottom with a "1." Then the bottles are sorted and cleaned by recyclers, who deliver them to recycling plants to be pressed into PET bricks. The bricks are crushed, impurities are removed, and the remaining material is made into chips, which are cleaned, dried, compressed, melted, filtered, squeezed, extruded, and cut into pellets. The pellets are used to extrude yarn which, after being analyzed and tested for quality, is knitted into various kinds of fabric.

Super Textile has been in business for more than 30 years, and operates a well-equipped laboratory with a strong R&D team. Its main product categories today include speaker cloth, fabrics for seat covers and car interiors, baby stroller fabric, baby carriage fabric, garment fabric, eco-friendly fabric, recycled PET-bottle fabric, and-for something a little different--bamboo charcoal.

At the symposium, a TUV official noted that the world generates 5.86 million metric tons of waste a year. PET bottles account for 17% of that total, meaning that 4.5 billion bottles weighing 99,000 metric tons are discarded every year. Using those waste bottles to make fabric or other products can do much to reduce pollution.

With more than a decade of work Super Textile has developed hundreds of kinds of fabrics (Eco fabrics) using recycled PET bottles. These fabrics are just as functional as those made from natural and synthetic fibers, but they cost more; however, the company believes, they will become more competitive as people become more conscious of the need to protect the environment and as technological advances help to lower production costs.

Prior to winning TUV's materials recycling certification, Super Textile had received the approval of such prominent international standards as ISO9001, ISO14000, OHSAS 18001, TS16949, Oeko-Tex Standard 100, UL, and CE.

The company is a leading supplier of baby car-seat fabric to global brands, and provides a mechanism for design and development in collaboration with clients. Its baby car seat fabric, the company said, meets EN, AATCC, and JIS standards for fire resistance and color fastness.