Home Green Design Wearbest Announces New Fabric Recycling Program for Its Line of Bella-Dura Fabrics

Wearbest Announces New Fabric Recycling Program for Its Line of Bella-Dura Fabrics

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GARFIELD, N.J.—Wearbest Sil-Tex Mills Inc., the makers of Bella-Dura performance fabrics, in conjunction with American Fibers and Yarns Co., has announced a new fabric recycling program for all Bella-Dura fabrics.

Fabrics sent to American Fiber and Yarns in Bainbridge, Ga., will be implemented into a recycling stream that will produce a variety of durable and disposable goods. Some of the markets include parts for automotive interiors, geotextiles, horticultural products and filtration fabrics. Energy-saving manufacturing practices are also used during this recycling process to make these re-generated products.

In every case, each yard of Bella-Dura fabric brought for recycling is converted into inert black plastic resin pellets. The recycled pellets offset the need for virgin plastic pellets derived directly from the world oil production flow. These pellets are then converted to end products such as door handles, seat motion handles, air filter and radiator fan housings for the automotive industry, truck trunk liners, waste water liners, flower pots, weed block fabrics, and water filtration fabrics for the industrial markets.

The proprietary Bella-Dura fiber is a by-product of post-industrial waste. The fact that the fabrics can be recycled (the fiber can be re-extruded up to 10 times) also lessens the environmental impact of fiber, yarn and fabric production. Harmful coatings and stain resistant finishes are not necessary in the fabric processing, since the inert fiber has inherent stain resistant and anti-microbial properties.

Fabrics Pass Durability Test

Bella-Dura fabrics also have a minimum of 1,500 hours lightfastness, exceed 50,000 double rubs for durability, are bleach cleanable, and are easy to clean. American Fiber and Yarns Co. also has partnered with Wearbest to provide a warranty to the end user to guarantee the performance characteristics of Bella-Dura, which exceed all contract industry standards as defined by the Association for Contract Textiles.

“We spent three years in research and development with American Fibers and Yarns to make the proprietary Bella-Dura fiber, and one of the appealing factors to me in the development of this fiber was the fact that Bella-Dura was environmentally friendly,” says Irwin Gasner, president and CEO of Wearbest. “The fact that we can offer our customers a durable performance fabric that can be recycled at the end of its life into other useful products helps us to be good stewards for the environment. It’s a true cradle to cradle existence; the fiber is born in Bainbridge, and will now be returned there for the re-birth of another new product.”

“Our recycling stream differentiates itself from traditional waste streams in that the plastic pellets are more cost effective than virgin products, without compromising the performance,” adds Jim Morelli, executive vice president of sales and marketing for American Fiber and Yarns. “The fact that the fiber base has inherent strength, is lightweight and has exceptional sunlight resistance makes it a perfect choice for automotive and industrial products.”

Go to Wearbest.

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