Crystal International Recycles Fabric Waste to Embrace Vision of Zero Operational Waste to Landfill

Hong Kong - Crystal International Group Limited ("Crystal International") has been spending untiring efforts in minimising operational waste generation and disposal in its global factories. To move ahead towards the vision of "Zero Landfill", the Group is working relentlessly to adopt holistic waste management and put circularity into practice. Crystal's sportswear factory in Vietnam and lifestyle wear factory in China successfully attained zero production waste to landfill by diverting 100% of its production waste away from landfill and incineration through recycling and waste-to-energy.

Further to the Group's waste management practices across the entire production and supply chain, including reduction at source via managing material purchasing and utilisation, the factories stepped ahead and fully uncovered the value of fabric waste with various initiatives through collaboration with qualified waste co-processing partners.

The sportswear factory in Vietnam recycled fabric waste to pillow cores and plastic powder. These recycling initiatives successfully reduced more than 125,000kg of carbon emissions per year originated from the waste treatment and disposal. The factory also recovered energy and made use of fabric waste material for cement production by a thorough process of mixing fabric waste with cement raw materials and co-processing at least 1400°C in cement kiln. Around 5,900kg of cement could be produced by recycling over 117,000kg of waste.

The lifestyle wear factory in China established a comprehensive waste collection system which encompassed waste streams. In addition to recycling fabric waste into yarns, other waste such as sludge and food waste were recycled into bricks and fish feed respectively. To fully utilise all sorted waste, non-recyclable waste was sent to waste co-processing partner for energy recovery. In 2022, the factory diverted 3,040 tonnes solid waste from landfill.

"Waste is not a waste, we upcycle and recycle fabric waste from factories to create new styles. We always embed circularity into our design to manufacturing stages and rethink how fabric waste from operation could generate positive impact. Look forward to collaborating with different partners to explore new circularity opportunities," said Catherine Chiu, Vice President, Global Sustainability of Crystal International.

Circular economy is one of key enablers to remedy waste issue in the supply chain and achieve net zero. Crystal International will continue to scale up circularity and upcycling with other stakeholders, paving the way for an eco-friendly and sustainable fashion industry.

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About Crystal International Group Limited

Crystal International Group Limited ("Crystal International" or the "Company"), incorporated in Bermuda with limited liability and registered by way of continuation in the Cayman Islands, is a global leader in the apparel manufacturing industry. Founded in Hong Kong in 1970, the Company and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Group", or "we") have a diversified product portfolio categorised into five product segments, namely Lifestyle wear, Denim, Intimate, Sweater, and Sportswear and outdoor apparel, with leading positions in corresponding categories. Headquartered in Hong Kong, the Group operates a multi-country manufacturing platform, with around 20 production facilities spanning five countries, namely Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The Group serves a group of leading global brands, through a highly differentiated "Co-creation" business model, offering value-added services and satisfying our customers through accumulated knowledge of the fashion market, promptness of service and creative innovation. We strive to produce the right products at the right time and at the right cost which is critical component to the success of our customers' global apparel brands in an ever-changing industry environment. The Group maintains a keen focus on sustainability and was ranked 17th out of 50 in the Fortune business magazine "Change the World" list in 2016. The list recognises companies across the world that have made significant social and environmental contributions.

Please visit Crystal International's corporate website http://www.crystalgroup.com for more information.

This release was published on openPR.