rPSF – the need for policy reform to enhance textile sustainability

In recent years, sustainable development has garnered significant attention across various industries. Among these sectors, the textile industry has notably advanced in adopting eco-friendly practices predominantly guided by large companies promoting their persona of eco-friendly business models. One of the key focus areas includes the use of recycled or alternative man-made fibers (MMFs) such as the recycled polyester staple fiber (rPSF) to reduce the heavy reliance on virgin materials and associated environmental pollution. Currently, man-made fibers make up 72% of global textile fiber consumption, and the demand for polyester in the global market is expected to grow at Compound Annual Growth Rate of 4.95% (USD 29 billion) by end of CY27.

Polyester staple fiber (PSF), also produced as recycled PSF (rPSF), is one of the most used fibers in the used clothing textile industry and has emerged as a champion of eco-friendly fashion due to its natural characteristics and environmental advantages. PSF is a synthetic fiber manufactured directly from Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) and Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG) or Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET Chips). In contrast, rPSF is produced from recycled PET chips, polyester waste, or post-consumer PET bottle flakes. The recyclability that associates rPSF with resource and energy efficiency, circular economy and waste reduction makes it a more environmentally friendly option for textile manufacturing compared to virgin PSF.

Characteristics and Opportunities of rPSF

The distinctive natural properties and environmental benefits of rPSF have proven to be game-changers, attracting more environmentally mindful consumers and supporting textile businesses that aim for a greener future. In addition to its lower economic costs, rPSF closely resembles cotton yarn in properties and appearance. Its longer durability and key properties such as flexibility, high toughness, heat resistance, stain resistance, wrinkle resistance, and versatility are driving factors behind the growth of rPSF in the global market.

rPSF provides numerous environmental benefits and environmental compliance opportunities to manufacturers, aligning their supply chains with globally emerging sustainability and environmental regulations.

Circular Economy: The textile industry has traditionally followed linear business models, characterized by the unsustainable extraction of virgin raw materials and excessive land-filling of post-consumer textile waste. However, the use of rPSF in textiles can change the paradigm, promoting a circular economy. rPSF is produced by upcycling and reusing post-consumer plastic waste materials, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional production methods. Incorporating recycled materials into production processes through diverting plastic waste such as PET bottles from the ecosystem not only extends the use of thrown plastics but also enhances responsible and sustainable production practices.

Energy and Resource Efficiency: rPSF reduces the overall environmental footprint of textile products as the manufacturing includes recycling of post-consumer plastic waste and other recycled polyester products, thereby requiring less use of energy and virgin raw materials in the supply chain.

Water Stewardship: Water inefficiency is a major environmental concern in the textile industry, with the production of water-intensive fibers being a key contributing factor. rPSF, on the other hand, requires less water for its production processes compared to production of virgin raw materials.

Climate Change Mitigation: The production of rPSF typically requires less energy compared to virgin polyester production, which helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy consumption. By upcycling post-consumer plastic waste into rPSF, the need for new petroleum-based raw materials is reduced, further decreasing carbon emissions from extraction and refining processes.

Meeting Consumer Demand: Consumers are becoming more aware of the environmental impacts of the products they buy, including textiles, and are increasingly seeking out sustainable and eco-friendly options. This has led the initiation of transformative strategies, such as the EU Green Deal, to promote sustainable growth and climate resilience.

The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles in the EU Green Deal mandates measures to improve the durability, reusability, and recyclability of textiles, as well as to enhance consumer awareness and promote sustainable consumption patterns. The strategy aims to make textiles more sustainable throughout their lifecycle through promoting circularity, reducing their environmental and climate impacts, and improving the industry’s competitiveness and innovation. Thus, rPSF holds a significant potential in helping textile manufacturers comply with this strategy as it promotes resource efficiency, waste reduction, circularity and product durability.

Similarly, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is another key element of EU’s efforts to address carbon leakage and support climate resilience. Once CBAM is effective, the only textile products that will enter EU markets will be those with minimum or no embedded emissions in their supply chains. Therefore, textiles with lower carbon emissions such as those made with rPSF will be more competitive in the EU market under CBAM.

Challenges

There are several challenges and risks associated with the use of rPSF in the textile industry. One of the major environmental concerns is the release of microplastics into the natural ecosystem. This challenge is intrinsically tied to rPSF, as microplastics/microfibers are released during manufacturing as well as laundering of products made with rPSF. This poses a challenge to comply with the international traceability requirements, as traceability requires data inputs of environmental performance of products.

Secondly, Pakistan has limited recycling infrastructure which is compounded by a broken and informal system of plastic waste collection. Pakistan has a largest network of waste pickers who play a crucial role in collecting plastic waste from around the cities. However, these waste pickers are part of the informal economy and are not integrated to a formal system of waste collection. This leaves tons of plastic waste collected by these informal waste pickers unmonitored, most of which ends up in the landfills or burning sites, ultimately leaking to the ecosystems.

Current Policy Landscape: In Pakistan, there is a 5% import duty on Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA), a key raw material used in the production of polyester and resultantly a 7% cascading duty on rPSF. rPSF is also subject to additional anti-dumping duties of up to 12%. These duties were hiked from 4% and 6% to 5% and 7%, respectively, in June 2016 to afford protection to domestic manufacturers of PTA and rPSF. Pakistan’s sole PTA manufacturing facility, however, is based on 30-year-old technology that has become obsolete and is outperformed by newer, more productive facilities in China and India, resulting in significantly higher prices compared to those prevailing internationally.

The disparity between domestically and internationally manufactured inputs eliminates both the domestic and international competitiveness of domestically manufactured MMF. This is supplemented by the absence of fully developed rules for duty-drawbacks on rPSF which prevents exporters from using imported rPSF for export manufacturing. Together, these factors have hindered the development of an MMF manufacturing culture and capacity in Pakistan.

What needs to be done

Pakistan’s textile industry, at present, is battling with environmental challenges. Water pollution is a significant concern due to the sector’s heavy use of water in processes like dyeing and finishing. The discharge of untreated or inadequately treated wastewater into water bodies has serious environmental implications. Energy consumption is another issue, with the sector being one of the largest consumers of energy in the country. This not only contributes to greenhouse gas emissions but also adds to the sector’s operational costs.

Ensuring environmental compliance in response to the increasing sustainability demands of global buyers is crucial for the survival of Pakistan’s textile industry. Achieving this requires Pakistan to review its current policies, including import and anti-dumping duties on rPSF, to support textile businesses in enhancing their environmental practices and thriving in competitive markets through expansion into MMF manufacturing.

By re-evaluating and ending import and anti-dumping duties on rPSF, Pakistan can potentially reduce the cost barriers that hinder the adoption of environmentally friendly practices and materials in the textile industry. This would incentivize the use of sustainable alternatives such as rPSF, which can help reduce the industry’s environmental impact. Meeting global sustainability standards can open up new markets and increase demand for Pakistani textiles, enhancing the industry’s long-term sustainability and resilience. India and Bangladesh - our regional competitors— have already introduced duty-free rPSF in their industry. If we do not take immediate action, we would lose the case for using rPSF to enhance market competitiveness.

The demand for rPSF from major textile exporting countries such as India and Bangladesh is rising. With textile sector becoming highly competitive and economically significant in the Asia-Pacific region due to growing global demand for textiles and apparels, these countries are boosting their sustainable textile manufacturing through rPSF application. In case of Pakistan, the demand for rPSF and its sustainable usage in the manufacturing industry is rising which regrettably is not fulfilled due to heavy import and anti-dumping duties. This has caused over reliance on domestically generated cotton, which is already inadequately available majorly due to climate change-induced calamities. The raw material shortage compounded by climate impacts and heavy duties on rPSF has significantly made the supply chains unpredictable and unsustainable and Pakistan’s textile industry uncompetitive.

Integration of rPSF into textile manufacturing holds a significant potential in reducing plastic pollution from the ecosystem. This, in Pakistan, requires a well-established domestic system of plastic waste collection, sorting and recycling equipped with modern technology. The system should also be connected with the textile producers to divert locally produced rPSF for their manufacturing.

This efficient sustainable system of domestically producing rPSF will not only protect manufacturers from duties imposed on imported rPSF but will also significantly overcome Pakistan’s ever-rising plastic pollution. Lastly, to overcome the challenges of microplastic leakage, modern technology such as microplastic captures should be installed at the manufacturing facilities by the firms to enhance environmental performance of their products.

Pakistan is one of the top ten countries importing post-consumer textile waste. In 2022, it ranked first with the import of worn out clothing equivalent to 422.8 million USD. 90% of the imported post-consumer textiles are PSF based. These imports majorly enter resale markets and ultimately landfills and incinerators, that adds to the already existing nearly unmanageable waste management challenges in the country.

To address the challenges related to importing rPSF and managing plastic and post-consumer textile waste, the government should form a joint venture with the private sector to set up a demonstration unit, which would establish the commercial viability of rPSF. This unit would collect, process, and recycle both plastic and post-consumer textile waste. An expression of interest should be promptly issued to invite private sector companies to participate in partnership with the government with long-term lending from EDF, ensuring the facility becomes commercially viable.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024