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Recycled Polyester—Tool for Savings in the Use of Virgin Raw Material

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Environmental Footprints of Recycled Polyester

Part of the book series: Textile Science and Clothing Technology ((TSCT))

Abstract

The demand for Polyester is rising especially in the Asia Pacific region as predicted by the textile forecast. The superior quality, established manufacturing and lower economics has made it a practical alternative for other fibers. The possibility of recycling has created a growing awareness for the use of RPET for the manufacture of sustainable clothing. Further polyester fibers can be made functional by incorporating special properties of hi-tech nature opening new opportunities in the global market. Sportswear and home textiles are two major segments that capitalize in the use of polyester fibers. The sustainability drive looks for the environmental footprints by using tools like life cycle assessment of products and materials. The human demand on nature for the growth and development of a region/product or process is inevitable; the capacity of nature to regenerate will be spoken in terms of environmental footprint. Virgin polyester has a greater environmental footprint when compared to RPET as reiterated by various case studies and reports. This paper will highlight the environmental foot print of RPET and virgin polyester with suitable examples to understand the basis for the use of recycled polyester. A case study has been analyzed to show the benefits of using Recycled hollow polyester for functional pillows. Leading retailers in the apparel sector communicate to the consumers the percentage of RPET in their apparel through labels and advertisements to promote sustainability awareness ending in product sales. The future is recycling and reuse and RPET will play an important role in reaching the targets and aspirations of the textile world.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fashion Technology, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore, India

    Shanthi Radhakrishnan, Preethi Vetrivel, Aishwarya Vinodkumar & Hareni Palanisamy

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  1. Shanthi Radhakrishnan
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  2. Preethi Vetrivel
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  3. Aishwarya Vinodkumar
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  4. Hareni Palanisamy
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Correspondence to Shanthi Radhakrishnan .

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    Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu

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Radhakrishnan, S., Vetrivel, P., Vinodkumar, A., Palanisamy, H. (2020). Recycled Polyester—Tool for Savings in the Use of Virgin Raw Material. In: Muthu, S. (eds) Environmental Footprints of Recycled Polyester. Textile Science and Clothing Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9578-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9578-9_3

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