I think part of sustainable living should involve some interest in researching materials so that you can identify which materials are eco-friendly and have an ethical supply chain. So I've been researching a few materials recently and in this post, I want to look at Econyl by Aquafil.
Aquafil is an Italian company that uses synthetic waste like fishnets extracted from the ocean, fabric scraps and plastic waste then regenerates them into new nylon yarn. This new nylon is called Econyl. It is the same quality as virgin nylon.
Econyl is produced by a chemical recycling process that breaks down the raw material to its building blocks before re-polymerising it back into nylon. Additionally, the process has a reduction of over 50% in CO2-equivalent emissions.
The end product is indistinguishable and performs just as well as conventional nylon during manufacturing and wear.
Unfortunately, Econyl is 20% more expensive than virgin nylon so not many brands are using it on a mass-production level.