New Research Challenges the Sustainability Case for Polyester

A new paper published by the Bremen Cotton Exchange raises significant questions about how the textile industry measures and communicates fibre sustainability — and who is accountable.

Authored by analyst Veronica Bates Kassatly and statistician Terry Townsend, Fiber Traceability — A Vehicle to Ensure Sustainability or Injustice? points out that polyester accounts for almost 60% of global fibre production. Yet nobody traces virgin polyester and there are no virgin polyester certification schemes. Only 12% of polyester is recycled. Of that, 98% of that comes from bottles, making recycled polyester, in the authors’ words, simply virgin polyester one step removed.

A Fibre Escaping Scrutiny

Among the paper’s headline findings: more than 2,500 chemicals are used, present, or released by PET, the most common polyester fibre. Of those chemicals, 800 are known to be highly hazardous. By comparison, 135 highly hazardous chemicals are used in pesticides applied to cotton globally.

A further 1,609 chemicals associated with PET have not been tested and so are currently evaluated as harmless, but may not be.

The paper also finds that the water footprint of one kilogram of polyester fibre is between five and seven times greater than that of one kilogram of cotton. It further estimates that approximately one-fifth of all polyester produced globally is derived from feedstock originating in sanctioned countries.

Implications for Wool

For the wool industry, the paper’s broader argument matters. Wool represents 1% of global fibre production yet faces traceability requirements and sustainability scrutiny that polyester does not. IWTO re-asserts its call for a level playing field, one where all fibres are subject to the same standard of transparency.

The full paper is available at baumwollboerse.de. The paper was funded and published by Bremen Cotton Exchange.

Source: IWTO