Aquafil has been honoured for the company’s commitment throughout the value chain with the development of ECONYL regeneration system and the special services in the fight against marine pollution, one of the greatest environmental problems of our time, according to the company.

The company’s CEO Giulio Bonazzi has been presented with the German Sustainability Award in the category Resource Efficiency by Prof Dr Michael Braungart at the ceremony that took place on 30 November in Dusseldorf.

In their statement, the jury said: “The company has introduced new processes and technologies across the value chain and build new partnerships with partners to close fibre circuits and to improve resource efficiency.”

Waste collection points

The ECONYL Reclaiming Program is a global network constructed in 2011 to establish fibre waste collection points. Pre-consumer waste, such as oligomers, and production waste, and post consumer waste, which includes fishing nets, part of carpets, and more, originating from countries around the world, can be used in the regeneration process. In the last three years already over 30kt of waste was collected.

The company cooperates with numerous partners. Together with the European Centre for Nature and Conservation and the socks manufacturer Starsocks, Healthy Seas initiative was launched. The main objective of this initiative is to remove waste, in particular fishing nets and other marine litter, from the seas and oceans.

Regeneration and sustainability

The company says its innovative brand ECONYL is all about regeneration. For every 10,000t of ECONYL caprolactam produced, 70,000 barrels of oil are saved and 42kt of CO2 emissions are avoided, according to the manufacturer.

From the collected waste, Aquafil creates new quality products, therefore saving large amounts of raw materials and avoiding waste.

Sustainability plays a major role in the Aquafil Group’s strategy. Since 2007, greenhouse gases from the production have been reduced by up to 25% and 36% of the electricity already comes from renewable sources.

www.econyl.com