Planet under Pressure
The 2020s are the make-or-break decade for Sustainability. But Covid-19 questions almost everything. How can we handle increasingly frequent shocks? What can a resilient society and economy that is in line with planetary boundaries look like? These and many other questions are discussed in the new 2020 edition of the Global Goals Yearbook titled “Planet under Pressure”. The Yearbook supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals and is one of the publications in strong international demand.
The 2020s are the make-or-break decade for Sustainability. But Covid-19 questions almost everything. How can we handle increasingly frequent shocks? What can a resilient society and economy that is in line with planetary boundaries look like? These and many other questions are discussed in the new 2020 edition of the Global Goals Yearbook titled “Planet under Pressure”. The Yearbook supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals and is one of the publications in strong international demand.
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NEXT-GENERATION<br />
NONWOVENS GO<br />
SUSTAINABLE<br />
Nonwoven textiles do not loom large in the consumer’s mind, but they are big in the industrial<br />
world. Their applications include industries such as healthcare, automotive, geo-engineering,<br />
construction, agriculture, filtration, dredging, disposable, as well as durable carpeting and more.<br />
As such, the average person is likely to encounter them in their day-to-day life more than they<br />
may think. Unfortunately, their manufacture is traditionally resource-intensive, but Beaulieu<br />
Fibres International’s UltraBond fibre can change this.<br />
By Maria Teresa Tomaselli and Valérie Bouckaert, Beaulieu International Group<br />
UltraBond is a bonding staple fibre that<br />
eliminates the need for latex or other<br />
chemical binders in nonwovens. The traditional<br />
downside of nonwoven fabrics<br />
that need latex is that they cannot be recycled<br />
without substantial downgrading<br />
and loss of performance, so nonwovens<br />
that bypass the need for latex in their<br />
manufacture now have a clear path to<br />
the circular economy.<br />
In industries such as event carpeting, this<br />
is a major advantage, considering that<br />
annually, 120 million square meters of<br />
event carpet ends up in incinerators or<br />
landfills. In addition, UltraBond-based,<br />
thermally bonded fabrics allow for cost<br />
savings due to their greater rest value<br />
after use, and they require lower energy<br />
and water consumption levels during the<br />
manufacturing process than chemically<br />
bonded fabrics. But how does UltraBond<br />
work?<br />
No latex needed<br />
Nonwoven carpets and needlepunched<br />
fabrics are typically produced by interconnecting<br />
man-made staple fibres into<br />
a felt. To achieve a strong enough bond<br />
of the fibres to withstand installation<br />
86<br />
Global Goals Yearbook 2020
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