PurFi’s $25-$30m facility will process textile wastes, says Arvind
Arvind Limited, India’s largest textile to technology conglomerate, and PurFi Global LLC from Tulsa, have formed a joint venture to reduce the amount of textile waste going to landfills through a US$25-US$30 million facility.
“Sustainability and innovation are key pillars of our strategic growth. We have always centered our approach on innovative ideas and sustainable initiatives,” said Punit Lalbhai, Executive Director, Arvind Limited.
“We share the common value system and excellent working relationship with PurFi Global, and this partnership will not only provide an innovative solution to deal with issue of textile waste but will also strengthen our motto of being Fundamentally Right.
“We look forward to working with these technologies to fuel the next set of growth in textile manufacturing and at exceptionally less environmental impact.”
For more than 25 years, PurFi has been developing and investing in state-of-the-art technology to rejuvenate industrial textile waste. Unlike the traditional ‘one-and-done’ recycling approach, PurFi’s technology can rejuvenate waste materials into virgin-like fibers 17 times, and it can be done at scale.
PurFi and Arvind will locate the first in a series of planned fiber rejuvenation facilities near one of Arvind’s manufacturing sites in India. The first facility will process textile wastes – white cotton, colored cotton, denim and synthetics – into virgin-like fibers for reuse from two lines, where each line will have a 5,500-ton capacity per year with plans to expand over the next five years.
The investment for these two lines is envisaged at US$25-US$30 million. Expansion plans include an additional production line that removes elastomers from fabrics utilizing another of PurFi’s proprietary technologies.
The joint venture is slated to start construction in the fourth quarter of 2022 with full production expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Joy Nunn, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PurFi Global LLC, said, “Our unique tracers that are specific to PurFi rejuvenated fibers provide customers with a clear line of sight to the origin of the fibers they source.
“This authentic product identifier is of great value to manufacturers like Arvind, who are committed to providing transparency into their sustainability practices and understand that rejuvenated materials have moved from ‘nice to have’ to ‘must have’ in their product offerings.”
The textile industry generates more than 64 billion pounds of post-industrial textile waste and 284 billion pounds of post-consumer waste annually. Yet only 12% of textiles globally are recycled, and about one percent are upcycled.
PurFi’s proprietary technology, supported by more than 30 patents and 400-plus registered trade secrets, has emerged as a proven and complete solution for rejuvenating textiles back into virgin-like fibers.
PurFi’s technology has been used to process waste textiles including wastes from various customers around the world. The company has offices and operations in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Waregem, Belgium. fiinews.com
