Cotton Incorporated Highlights The Inherent Circularity Of Cotton
Image By Courtesy of Cotton Incorporated
Since it was founded in 1970 through to the present day, the programs of Cotton Incorporated help the cotton industry realize its commitment to sustainable practices.
As a plant and natural fiber, cotton is inherently circular.
It is grown from the earth, can be reused and recycled in a variety of ways, and biodegrades when it is ultimately returned to the earth.
And, all parts of the cotton plant, including stems, lint and seeds, can be used.
The cotton ginning process creates 2.5 million tons of biomass each year, which can be used to produce energy.
Cotton manufactured into a nonwoven applications, like wet wipes, can be composted after use.2
Cotton cycles carbon out of the atmosphere through the natural process of photosynthesis, during which carbon dioxide is absorbed, and carbon is then sequestered, or stored, in biomass above and below the ground.
When crop residues are left on the ground and returned to the earth, the sequestered carbon in the plant residue can increase carbon in the soil, acting as a carbon sink.
More Than Just Fiber
While cotton is known mostly for its natural fiber and its use in textile production, cotton does so much more than clothe us. Cotton production creates many byproducts, which is why it is known as an “and” crop – it produces fiber and linters and seed, without requiring extra land, water, fertilizer or other support.
Once the lint has been taken off, cottonseed can be used to feed dairy cattle, and the seed kernels can be squeezed to make cottonseed oil, a protein-rich oil with countless uses.
Cotton linters, the tiny fuzz left on cottonseed hulls, are an extremely versatile by-product as well. Linters are commonly used to make products like paper, but it can also be found in food products such as ice cream and beer.
The cottonseed hulls themselves are used in hundreds of non-food products, including soap and fertilizers. Cotton’s versatility and efficiency makes it an important crop for a growing global population striving for a more sustainable future.
Recyclability : One Cotton Product Lasts A Long Time
Cotton is a durable material that is ideal for reuse. In fact, cotton can be reused and recycled in many different ways.
Second-hand sales and thrift stores allow cotton products to live a long life from one user to the next. But cotton products can find new life in other ways as well.
Cotton Clothes Can Become New Products, Materials, And Energy
The science and technologies that allow us to recycle cotton into new textiles and products are constantly evolving.
Of course, cotton can be recycled to create new clothes, but this is not always the most efficient way to reuse cotton materials.
Recycled pre- and post-consumer cotton textiles can also be used in a wide variety of nonwoven products, ranging from wet wipes, filters and automotive applications, to building and construction materials.
This type of recycling is ideal for scrap materials or well-worn garments that are difficult to turn into new textiles.
Bioenergy production from waste cotton clothing is yet another way to give life to products that cannot be reused, while also reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The combustion of cellulose biomass found in discarded cotton textiles to create electricity could save 68 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year2 – enough to power more than 7 million homes for one year.3
In addition, a new project is underway to turn cotton into new biobased building blocks through a chemical recycling process.
Cotton is nearly pure cellulose, which is a naturally occurring sugar molecule and the building block of a plant’s cell wall. Researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and Cotton Incorporated have identified a highly efficient process that takes advantage of this by essentially turning cotton back into cellulose – a bio-based product that can be used to make sustainable chemicals and additives.
Because cotton is nearly pure cellulose, it readily degrades in the natural environment, and studies have shown that cotton fabric biodegrades in an industrial compost.
Once cotton fabric has reached the end of its life it can biodegrade in soil for use in future crops.
Biodegradability
One of the most serious issues with a non-circular, or disposable, economy is the amount of improperly discarded waste entering the environment.
Because of this waste, large amounts of plastics and other harmful materials enter our ecosystems, our water and our bodies.
This is why textile biodegradability is extremely important, and cotton provides a best-in-class example.
As a plant, a fiber, a textile and more, cotton is naturally circular.
It can be used in many ways, repurposed and reused and biodegrades naturally when it enters the environment.
These characteristics set cotton far apart from synthetic fibers – particularly those made from petrochemicals, like polyester, which shed microplastics into the environment, adding to the significant and growing problem of microplastics in the world’s ecosystems.
