Lenzing, one more step towards sustainability: scales production of cotton waste fibers

Lenzing continues to invest in sustainability. The Austrian fiber manufacturer has introduced a new technology to scale the production of Tencel Lyocell x Refibra fiber, which uses post-consumer cotton waste.

The fiber has up to 30% recycled raw materials, Lenzing stated that its five-year vision is to produce the technology with up to 50% recycled content from post-consumer cotton waste, and said it aims to “make textile waste recycling as common as paper recycling.”

Recently, the Austrian group has just begun to build the world’s largest lyocell fiber plant in Thailand. The factory will be located in the town of Prachinburi, near Bangkok. The new plant will have a capacity of 100,000 tons per year and the investment volume for a first production line amounts to 400 million euros.

Lyocell is a type of synthetic fiber that is created from cellulose, usually eucalyptus. The material is completely biodegradable and dissolves in an organic, non-chemical solvent, which is reused throughout the process. The fiber is marketed under the Tencel brand, owned by Lenzing.