Luxury and eco-friendly!Green elements at FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

By Zhao Xinhua

Behind Qatar's green promise as the first "carbon neutral" World Cup is the use of a large amount of renewable energy and environmentally friendly materials to facilitate the recycling of materials after the event.

The Stadium 974, one of the World Cup venues,is the first fully removable, mobile and reusable "Green Stadium" in World Cup history, constructed from 974 large shipping containers made of recycled steel.After the World Cup, the 40,000-seat temporary stadium has been dismantled and all the containers, along with removable seats inside the stadium, have been donated to countries in need.

CocaCola Middle East launches locally produced 100% rPET bottles for its range of beverages across all official FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 sites including stadiums.In addition to the 100% rPET bottles, CocaCola Middle East has placed dedicated recycling bins across FIFA World Cup 2022? venues and educated the 20,000+ volunteers and 1 million+ fans on responsible recycling through its on-ground and on-screen communication, ensuring recyclable plastic waste is placed in the right bins for further repurposing.

Secondary treatment of waste materials and reprocessing through high-tech means to produce new textiles are also frequently used in the process of fabric design.The major sponsors of World Cup Qatar's jerseys and shoes are also following the principle of environmental protection.Nike's 2022 World Cup jersey is made of 100% recycled polyester, while Adidas' jersey is also made of recycled polyester and contains 50% Parley Ocean Plastic.The Ultraweave fabric used by Puma contains at least 20 percent recycled ingredients.

Revealed in 2019, Move to Zero is Nike’s journey toward zero carbon and zero waste, with a singular aim: help protect the future of sport.By 2024, Adidas’ll replace virgin polyester with recycled polyester, wherever possible.

Regenerated polyester fiber is made of waste chemical fiber, waste polyester bottle, textile and other waste materials, which are melted or dissolved after physical treatment, or recycled polymer materials are further cracked into small molecules, repolymerized and spun to produce the fiber.Environmentally friendly,cost-effective and safe, the regenerated polyester fiber performs equally as well as 100% virgin polyester for fills which are three denier and larger.The application range of regenerated polyester fiber is very wide, such as clothing, home textiles, medical and hygiene textiles, etc.

The direct regeneration process through physical methods accounts for more than 95%, and 90% of its raw materials are recycled waste beverage bottles.However, this process product is used at the low end of the market and cannot be fully recycled.The chemical regeneration process of "depolymerization - purification- repolymerization" can realize recycling, but the process is difficult and cost is high, and only partial regeneration can be achieved at present, and there are still some problems such as large waste pollution discharge.

With the increasing demand for high-end regenerated polyester fiber in the terminal market, the chemical recycling technology and waste textile recycling system needed for high-end regenerated polyester fiber production at home and abroad are developing rapidly.

In 2021, the recycled polyester fiber produced by Sinopec Yizheng Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd.passed GRS(Global Recycled Standard) certification, and completed the first batch of industrial production.After inspection,the quality of the product can reach the quality of virgin polyester fiber.It also marks a solid step in Sinopec's development of high-end recycled polyester fiber as an alternative to imported raw materials.

And it's not just big companies.Start-ups are also looking at the field of recycled textiles.In 2022, Qingdao Amino Material Technology Co., Ltd., founded in 2020, was the first Chinese company to be shortlisted for the Global Change Award.The Global Change Award is the world's largest innovation to promote the green transformation of the fashion industry.The company won the award for its Amino polyester recycling system, which separate and recycle polyester and cotton blends, polyester and nylon blends, polyester and spandex blends, and polyester and other fiber blends.This technology not only realizes the goal of recycling waste textiles, but also can further avoid the pollution of the ecological environment caused by toxic chemicals in traditional production and reduce the use cost of these two kinds of fibers after realizing industrialization and scale in the future.

Teijin Frontier Co., Ltd., the Teijin Group's fibers and products converting company, announced in 2022 that it has developed a recycling technology using a new depolymerization catalyst to recycle colored polyester fibers without losing the quality of polyester fibers made from petroleum-derived raw materials.The new technology also lowers environmental load compared to conventional recycling.

At present, all the major terminal retail brands are actively embracing green materials, and have developed their own sustainable development strategies in terms of materials.For example, IKEA, Nike and Decathlon are all aiming to use 100% recycled polyester in all their polyester products by 2025.The annual demand for high-end recycled polyester fibers in the end market has exceeded 100,000 tons and is growing exponentially.In the near future, large-scale "fiber to fiber" recycling is expected to be realized and will create a new sustainable recycling industry in the world.