According to information from the portal of the international environmental organization Greenpeace, the pollution generated by the production of clothing is approximately 500 thousand tons. It is estimated that in Colombia an average person consumes between 7 and 19 kilos of textile material per year, of which only 0.2% is recovered.

Fibretex processes more than 2,000 tons a year of leftover fabrics from the cutting process of multiple clothing companies, which are no longer used in garment manufacturing. The fabric cuts are selected according to color, fiber composition, and type of fabric, among other characteristics, and a chopping process is carried out, in order to obtain smaller pieces that facilitate the opening process. They then go through the fraying process, again producing a speck of recovered fiber where the threads that make up the fabric are converted back into textile fiber, ready to be used again as an input in various processes.

These fibers have multiple applications: material for filling mattresses, making non-woven fabrics for industrial use, making wicks for making rags, making open threads, and recently making paper, replacing cellulose pulp, which prevents deforestation of forests.

It currently has the challenge of penetrating the market for fabrics made with 100% recovered fibers and the market for paper production from this type of recovered textile fibers, which would have a very positive impact on the environment by being able to complete the cycle of recycling, thus avoiding the use of thousands of cubic liters of water for its production and reducing the use of chemicals and processes used to generate new fibers.

They also accompany entrepreneurs in the development of an "environmental impact culture" through tools that guide them towards sustainability.

Photo by: Erol Ahmed by Unsplash