Arthur & Henry Read: "About Biosynthetics"

We're reading about biosynethics on a newly created website called "aboutbiosynthetics".  We guess Textile Exchange, experts on sustainabilty in textiles, take the Ronseal approach to naming things.

It's fascinating.  Polyester is now the most common fibre used in clothing - over 60% of the world's textile fibre production is now synthetic.  So with oil running out and increased attention being paid to the plastic micro-fibres shed from clothing polluting our oceans, clever folk are finding ways to make plastic from....well not just from plants as we discovered on reading the website.

One of the problems of using plants to make plastic (and this is of interest to us because we're trying to find the most sustainable ways of packing our shirts - we've used both recyclable polybags and compostable bioplastic to date) is that they take up land to grow on.  Land that could be used to grow food.  And with an ever growing world population using good food-growing land to grow plastic seems...well...just not entirely sensible.

But now there are ways to generate synthetic fibres from waste.  And from "non-food resources" (algae, bacteria and the like).  Sci-fi stuff coming to a clothes shop near you soon. 

Definitely worth a read. 

👍👍👍👍👍

Aboutbiosynthetics from Textile Exchange