HOYU’s textiles are known for their resilience, durability, and waterproof properties. Processes like coating and lamination are frequently employed in our production. We provide waterproof textiles for brands to make reliable and robust outdoor backpacks, which are unfazed by rain and humidity.
As time passes and your backpack shows its wear, we wish it could find a new purpose beyond incineration or landfills. However, the backpack's composition includes a blend of Polyester, Nylon textile, TPU, and adhesives, posing challenges for recycling and circular textile practices. Presently, only mono-material textiles can be effectively recycled and transformed into new textiles. Functional textiles, due to their hybrid composition, are not easily recyclable.
Our journey toward NEUCYCLE® began with the idea of A+B=C. To facilitate the circular utilization of coated, laminated, and various types of multilayer textiles, numerous techniques have emerged to effectively extract each element. Think of it as trying to separate a lump of clay consisting of four distinct colors. The separation process itself demands significant energy and chemical inputs. We wondered – Why not integrate coatings into the manufacturing of novel materials? If this lump of clay consists of elements A and B, we might as well use it directly as element C. Perhaps our focus should center on preserving the inherent value of multilayer textiles during their recycling into new materials.
During the textile manufacturing process, there are scraps and leftovers. Some can be resold if their ingredients are simple. Complex fabrics such as TPU laminated or coated fabrics, are unfortunately discarded. The value of these mixed materials goes unrealized.
At HOYU, we collect wasted TPU laminated or coated fabrics, crush them, and reconstitute them into new materials that can be incorporated into new TPU coating resins. While chemical depolymerization recycling methods are also being developed to tackle this challenge, we chose the mechanical recycling approach, which takes less energy, no chemical usage, and much less carbon emissions.
Initially, we collected TPU scraps from our manufacturing process without a clear plan. Our focus was on the technical feasibility of turning these scraps into feedstock, and the results met the GRS(Global Recycled Standard) certificate.
However, we learned that such materials were often viewed as "down- cycled" by our clients. This experience taught us a valuable lesson - adding value to our products is crucial.
We gradually developed from TPU recycling to the NEUCYCLE® series, a technology that not only repurposes discarded mono TPU but also TPU laminated fabrics. In NEUCYCLE® MINGLES, you see the texture of recycled fabric, which represents a message - bring back as much discarded fabric as we can and make it useful again. We are able to continuously recycle the NEUCYCLE® fabric when it goes to the end-of-life stage. It is a sustainable circular recycling concept that we are aiming for.