Government agencies and the media are reminding us daily of the need to preserve our environment and natural resources. This requires new technologies to be developed in the recycling sector. In the textile related industries, the current challenge is to invent industrially and economically viable solutions to recycle post-consumer products such as clothings, carpets, car seats, airbags, mattresses etc. For almost a century, Laroche has been a major player in the textile waste recycling field and is now deeply involved in new technologies for the recycling of post-consumer goods.
Some recent examples:
Special lines now can open used clothings back into fibers whilst removing the metal and plastic contaminants. The fibers can then be airlaid and thermobonded into felts for the automotive, bedding and furniture industries. Post-consumer carpets are now successfully recycled by an opening and cleaning process yielding fibers with a low enough ash content to be used as plastics or as the primary component of carpet underlays. Old matresses can be deconstructed and the foam can be shredded into chips, the textile portion can be opened back into fibers and both can be airlaid and thermobonded back into components for new mattresses. It must be noted that the thermobonding process sanitizes the products by exposing them to high temperatures. With its large experience in recycling and nonwoven processes Laroche is up to the challenge of preserving our world resources.
