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Wellman Sustainability

The Wellman Product Cycle

Post collection, bales of plastic bottles or PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are delivered to our flake production facilities at Verdun and Spijk, where the bottles are sorted by colour and material type. Wellman International recycles 52 bottles per second.
The sorted bottles are ground into flake, washed, rinsed and dried. The combined capacity of our two flake production facilities at Verdun and Spijk is 70,000 tonne of flake per annum.
Containers of the recycled PET are sent to our fibre production facility in Cavan, Ireland, where the flake is used as the raw material to produce our polyester staple fibre.

The number of 500ml bottles it takes to make...

Sound Shower Ultra Thin Speaker
Cured in Place Pipe (CIPP)
A Headliner for a Car
Double Duvet
Roll of Thermal Insulation

Sustainable Benefits of Wellman Fibre

1.6 billion post consumer bottles recycled annually to make our fibre
- equivalent to 200,000 barrels of oil saved annually
- eliminates 300,000 tonne of harmful air emissions
Carbon footprint is 4 times lower than virgin PET fibre
Suitable for closed loop recycling uses
Based on 40 years of recycling and sustainable experience
Accessability to independently accredited Life Cycle Assessment data
Traceabilitly of Raw Materials
Certification to confirm maximum recycled content
LCA carried out by the Science, Technology and Society Group, Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University

Independent Life Cycle Assessment study

LCA case study of PET bottle to fibre recycling, Utrecht University.
Published Resources Conservation and Recycling (Elsevier) August 2010

Wellman is Europe’s largest rPET fibre site
Wellman recycled PET fibre has 76% lower emissions than virgin polyester
Wellman fibres are made using 86% less energy than virgin PET
Wellman have been involved in recycling since 1971
1.6 billion post-consumer plastic bottles
recycled annually
200,000 barrels of oil
saved annually
300,000 tonne of harmful emissions saved
Wellman fibre demonstrates a low impact on the depletion of the Earths non-renewable fuel
Wellman fibre has a positive environmental profile compared to other fibres
Wellman fibre processes demonstrate significantly lower effect on non-renewable resources
Wellman fibre processes demonstrate lower
global warming potential
Closed loop system
offers potential for recovery of 100% polyester components
Wellman fibre allows for total traceability of raw materials
Wellman fibre offers
access to independently accredited Life Cycle Assessment data
Wellman Fibre offers certification to confirm maximum recycled content

Closed Loop System™

Wellman can recover up to 100% of polyester components from end-of-life products. Products developed from Wellman Fibre can be re-introduced into the raw material stream and once again made into Wellman Fibre.

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Did You Know?

Carbon Footprint of Wellman International fibre: 0.95kg of CO₂ emissions per kg of rPET, 4 times lower than virgin PET fibre.

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