Pinatex is a non-woven material made with the by-product of existing pineapple agriculture. The material is made in collaboration with local farmers and is produced in a sustainable manner. The future goal is to ensure post-consumer biodegradability of the material.

Piñatex™ is a leather alternative developed and commercialised by Ananas Anam. Piñatex™ aims to meet the growing demand for leather, but without the negative social and environmental impacts. Instead of animal hides, it uses pineapple leaves, a waste product of pineapple farms. Side products of the Piñatex™ production process are biogas and organic fertiliser. The product finds its application in apparel, footwear, furnishing, car and aeronautic industries.

Local cooperatives in the Philippines produce fibres from the leaves through decortication, which is the extraction of biomass fibres. Since the cooperatives produce a higher value added product, the initiatives grants farmers the chance to generate higher and more sustainable earnings. Since women are involved in the decortication of biomass, the project improves women’s participation. 

The fibres are then industrially processed into a non-woven mesh textile at a local factory in the Philippines to produce the basis of Piñatex, before being shipped to a finishing factory near Barcelona.

The product allows for efficiency gains: the irregular shape of leather hides can result in up to 25% waste; for Piñatex, these losses only amount to 5%. Next to this, Piñatex uses no chemicals from the Cradle2cradle list of substances banned for use during production and the process is closed loop. Residual leaf biomass is used as natural fertiliser or biofuel. The non-woven Piñatex mesh is biodegradable.

Case study sourced from a forthcoming Circle Economy publication, expected February 2021

Image credit: Ananas Anam (https://www.ananas-anam.com/about-us/)