TEXTILES.ORG
Martex Fiber Southern Corp. (MFSC), Spartanburg, S.C., has unveiled its new campaign, “No Fiber Left Behind™,”to stress the importance of ZERO Landfill and support the idea that waste reinvention is possible in the U.S. Dr. Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy, sums up Martex’s new credo by stating that “Going forward, we want to see these things not only invented in America; we want to see them built in America; and it’s that combination of invented in the U.S., built in the U.S. and sold worldwide that is going to be the heart of our future.”
Martex is putting these goals into action with new product development and plant expansions. The firm is challenging every textile mill to reconsider its textile waste, and helping companies to understand what is possible with their waste streams: ensuring that all materials are actually getting recycled into a product while no materials inadvertently go to the landfill, and potentially creating a new source of revenue for that waste. The Martex slogan: “Your waste is our raw material.”
MFSC is known for its collection of waste clippings and salvages from new apparel and upholstery manufacturing in the U.S. and Central America. With large collection and processing facilities in Spartanburg, S.C., fabrics are deconstructed and fibers blended into a variety of custom fiber mixes that can be put back into industrial processes such as blowing, needlepunch and spunlace. Many of the recycled fiber applications are still domestic, supporting automotive, bedding, nonwoven and furniture markets. Another use for cotton apparel waste is refiberization for yarn spinning: Martex takes the fiber full circle, creating ECO2cotton® yarns which are spun domestically in Lincolnton, Ga.
In the next 2 years, MFSC’s corporate goal is to increase its waste collection efforts from 110 million lbs per year to 150 million lbs per year. To meet this goal, the company has begun increasing its recycling capacity by 30 percent, and will add jobs and equipment to its yarn spinning facility in Georgia as well as adding capacity to the recycling operation in South Carolina.
“Initiating new product development will be our primary goal,” stated Jimmy Jarrett, president of MFSC. “We will continue to make sure that brokers and dealers are not cherry picking for the high-priced waste items and leaving the rest to landfill.” MFSC is looking to find new uses of textile waste and offering its re-fiberized textiles and recycled yarn to many customers who now are looking for ecological alternatives. The company is also challenging suppliers and customers with the No Fiber Left Behind program, advocating the certified reclamation of all textile waste streams and pursuing “360 degree recycling,” where companies find new uses for their own textile waste.