Not every material works for every occasion. Can you give an example of how sustainability can be implemented when designing PPE?
Vanhoutte: It depends on the type of protection you're looking for. For instance, if you're talking about high visibility clothing, then the color is the determining factor. With that in mind, you can look at if you can reach that with recycled contents in the product. Surely, that is feasible. But on the other hand, if you're talking about flame retardant clothing, it's more difficult to obtain this property with recycled contents. Recycled contents will always be limited. Still, there are certain fields of application where they can be used.
Medori: But when thinking of sustainability, we can also take the packaging into account. It does have a very important impact on the environmental footprint of the final product. Trying to make the packaging more circular will definitely help to meet some sustainability aspects.
Our working group members have already started their progress with their individual plans and strategy on sustainability, specifically on the product circularity and reduction of the environmental impact, but also on tackling greenwashing. For example, BASF from UK issued a code of conduct regarding green claims. It's setting common rules for its suppliers. Some other members are already working on improving packaging, circularity and social responsibility aspects. They also reported the use of renewable electricity in their plants.
You've talked about the impact on the industry. What are the challenges for the industry if specific guidelines do come?
Vanhoutte: The legislators have to see that rules for conventional clothing cannot automatically apply for PPE as well. When people think about textiles, they think about garments – just as in conventional clothing. But textiles in PPE are more than that: it's also a good part of gloves, a good part of footwear, of harnesses or even helmets – there's almost no PPE that does not contain some sort of textiles. As PPE and conventional clothing work completely differently, we have to make sure that the general rules, like 30 or 40 percent of the content of textile products has to be made of recycled material, do not apply to PPE automatically. Right now, the biggest challenge for the industry is to make sure that the legislation takes the particularities of PPE into account.
That said, it doesn't mean that there are no possibilities for sustainability to be implemented. Companies are making a lot of effort to do so. Sustainability is not only a matter of the PPE itself, but also packaging, transport and so on. Companies are looking more into their supply chains and elements such as the energy consumption of the production. All those elements are taken into account and are being worked on.
Medori: I totally agree. We know legislators are looking out mostly to make textiles more circular for obvious reasons, because the fast fashion industry has a massive impact on society and the environment. But it's important to differentiate between the textile and other kinds of textile PPE.
The main challenge for the industry is to navigate the new Green Deal initiative requirements whilst accepting PPE as a standalone category. PPE and conventional clothing cannot meet the same protection requirements.