Unraveling Microplastic Pollution: Biodegradable Solutions for Synthetic Textiles

In this episode of Assurance in Action, host Dr. Dhanashree Bhelose, Global Head for Biosciences at Intertek, continues our biodegradability series with a deep dive into synthetic textiles. She’s joined by Andrea Ferris, CEO and Co-Founder of Intrinsic Advanced Materials, to discuss CiCLO® — an innovative technology that makes polyester biodegradable without compromising performance. Together, they explore the science, market trends, and future of sustainable textiles, as well as the urgent need to address microplastic pollution.

Discover how CiCLO® is reshaping the textile industry and why responsible innovation is key to closing the loop.

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Transcript

Dhanashree Bhelose  0:00  
Welcome to the assurance in action, the Podcast where we explore the latest trends and insights in sustainability, quality and assurance. I am Dr Dhanashree Bhelose, the Global Head for Biosciences here at Intertek. Today, we continue with our exciting series on biodegradability, a critical topic at the forefront of sustainable innovation and responsible manufacturing. In our last episode, we laid the groundwork by discussing the fundamentals of biodegradability and its growing importance across industries. In this episode, we take a deep dive into the world of biodegradable synthetic textiles, a sector that's gaining momentum as both consumer and brand demand sustainable performance without compromising on quality of the product. 

Dhanashree Bhelose  0:56  
I am thrilled to be joined by Andrea Ferris, CEO and co-founder of Intrinsic Advanced Materials, a company leading the charge in advanced fiber technologies, CiCLO technology received the world Sustainability Award at the finally of the World Sustainability Congress. Together, we'll explore the science behind biodegradable synthesis, current market trends and the road ahead for scalable, sustainable textile solutions. So stay with us as we unravel the future of textiles and what it really means to be. 

Dhanashree Bhelose  1:34  
Welcome, Andrea and thank you so much for joining us today. How are you doing? 

Andrea Ferris  1:39  
Hi, Dhanashree, thank you so much for having me today. I'm doing very well. I'm dialing in here from the San Francisco Bay area where the fog is rolling in and our summer has started. So thanks again for having me here. 

Dhanashree Bhelose  1:52  
That's great. So before we get into the details, let's start with understanding CiCLO. So,for the non textile folks in the audience, can you explain what CiCLO is and how is it applied to synthetic fibers and polyesters? 

Andrea Ferris  2:10  
Yeah, absolutely. So, CiCLO is a solution for micro plastic pollution caused specifically by the shedding of synthetic textiles, and what it is, is a patented combination of safe active ingredients. We sell it in the form of either pellets or pellets for batch fiber production or liquid for continuous polymerization fiber production, so it gets added like a dope dye color might be to fiber when it's being made, so it actually gets embedded in the fiber, never washes off, and ultimately what it does is makes the polyester biodegradable by making it susceptible to attack by microorganisms and moisture over time, and those are the key ingredients for biodegradation as you and your lab know, microorganisms, moisture and the materials need to be subjected to them for a period of time. So, really, CiCLO is kind of embedding environmental weaknesses in the fiber, but at the same time, it enables the polyester to maintain its durability during manufacturing, during use, and its recyclability at end of life. So this is only activated when there is exposure to microorganism and moisture. And I will say we get a lot of questions about, is it safe, and that kind of thing, and I can confirm that CiCLO is completely safe for use in sustainable textiles. The chemistry is OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT certified. All of the components are EU reach compliant. We've also done additional testing to make sure that the additive itself, as well as the process of polyester biodegrading with CiCLO in it is non toxic to marine and plant life. So that isn't to say that we think that plastic should be winding up in the environment, but it is to confirm that using CiCLO is no additional risk to the polyester pollution.

Dhanashree Bhelose  4:15  
That's a great overview. So can you tell us about the history of CiCLO technology and like, how and why was it created?

Andrea Ferris  4:24  
Yeah, so we've been working on this for quite some time. The idea for CiCLO came up, actually, 13 years ago now, back in 2012 and we, at the time, I was working for a uniforms company. We were working on the McDonald's uniforms program, and what we realized was that we really needed to use polyester in this workwear program for the durability, performance, the availability, the cost, also, polyester is a very affordable material, and we were using recycled polyester already, but we realized that the polyester we were using, recycled or not, was polluting the environment with these micro plastics that once they wind up in the environment, they can't be recovered. So we set out on a mission to develop a better polyester to solve for this problem of micro plastic pollution. And we spent about four years in R&D, developing formulations, trying to understand what we could safely add to polyester to enable it to remain durable during use, but biodegradable in the environment. And once we did, we decided, well, we've really created something special that not only work where programs need really this is something that the entire textiles industry really desperately needs. So we spun off a separate company from the uniforms company, and we branded this technology, CiCLO and it means cycle. We do see this as part of the circular economy, and we brought it to market. So, you know, that was a long time ago. We launched in 2017 and now we are scaled around the world. It's used not only in the McDonald's uniforms program, but also by other major brands and retailers like Champions, HANES Brands, Target, a lot of things in the Target stores, from home textiles to apparel, Billabong was actually our first brand to market, they use it in some of their board shorts, in combination with recycled polyester and many other companies in both home textiles, apparel, scrubs, hospitality, as well. So if you think about hotel linens, really, anywhere that synthetic textiles are used, sigla polyester can be substituted for either virgin or recycled polyester.

Dhanashree Bhelose  6:52  
That's really insightful and and very interesting, in fact. So can you tell us more about the company, Intrinsic Advanced Materials?

Andrea Ferris  7:02  
Yeah, of course. So, our company, Intrinsic Advanced Materials is actually a joint venture between Intrinsic Textiles Group, which is a textile technology startup that I helped co-found that's here in the Bay Area, and our joint venture partner is Parkdale, specifically Parkdale Advanced Materials, and that is the innovative fiber and yarns division of Parkdale Inc. Parkdale is the largest supplier of spun yarn in the Western Hemisphere and an incredibly innovative company. They have been in business for quite some time, I think, 108 years, I believe it is at this point. So they have been a really wonderful partner and instrumental, really, in scaling CiCLO technology around the world. So together, our company, the joint venture, is called Intrinsic Advanced Materials, and we manufacture, distribute the CiCLO, again, the form of either pellets or liquid formulation to certified manufacturing partners of polyester all around the world.

Dhanashree Bhelose  8:10  
Thank you so much for sharing all these details. So you have been working with Intertek for many years now, researching on biodegradable fibers. What methods are you using?

Andrea Ferris  8:21  
Yeah, so the sacral technology, again, is really designed to enable polyester to be inherently biodegradable. And so we're looking at the biodegradation rates in environments where microplastics from synthetic textiles end up as prolific pollutants, and also where biodegradation can occur, so where you have the presence of moisture and microorganisms, and that the microplastics would be exposed over periods of time. You know, some statistics that I probably should have shared earlier about the microplastic pollution problem are, you know, it's microplastics from synthetic textiles are the number one form of micro plastic pollution found in all environments all around the world. Some statistics we like to share are that during the manufacturing process, this is according to the Nature Conservancy, who put out a report with Bane during the manufacturing process. They say that for every 500 t-shirts manufactured, one is lost as microfiber pollution. So that's during the spinning of the yarn and the making of the fabrics, and the dying of the fabrics, and all of the abrasion and the processing that happens to textiles, also during the cut. So really, just during that manufacturing process, all of these fibers are breaking off and and finding their way into the environment, and then also during wear, so certainly, well, if you can imagine when we're even just walking down the street and wearing some of our clothes. The abrasion that happens even from your arms swinging on certain garments or walking on your synthetic carpets, there are fibers that are coming off, and they're so small, they're practically invisible to the naked eye, but they're coming off during use and also machine washing. There are a lot of statistics, and there's many things that can make fibers shed more or less in a wash based on the construction of a garment, the fiber construction, the wash size, the detergent that's used a lot of things, but there are statistics that actually say that up to 18 million microfibers can come off in one single wash load. So that's another enormous contributor to this microplastics from synthetic textiles. 35% of the microplastics that enter the oceans each year are attributed to synthetic textiles. And to give you an idea of what that might be. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the equivalent in weight of 50 billion plastic bottles worth of these synthetic microplastic fibers enter the oceans every year. So these are enormous problems. So when we're looking for the rate of biodegradation. We are looking at those environments where these fibers are ending up. So the test methods that we're using are the ASTM and ISO methods. So ASTM 5988 and that is ambient soil conditions. The ASTM 5511 which are anaerobic digester conditions, kind of simulating a very biologically active landfill environment. And the ISO 19679, which is seawater, and also includes a little bit of sediment in there. We run that test quite a bit with Intertek. We have also run the ASTM-D 6691, which is another seawater test that just doesn't have sediment. Very similar method, though. And all of these test methods, as you know, are respirometry. So they are measuring the evolution of the carbon to carbon dioxide, so the true biodegradation of the materials from the microorganisms in the inoculum. And, you know, I will say that we, as you know, because we work so closely together, Dhanashree, we do a lot of our testing there at Intertek, and a lot of our customers do as well. We do see some value in working with multiple labs for corroboration of the data. So, you know, we have worked with about six different labs around the world at this point, but the bulk of our testing does go through Intertek. You have a incredibly impressive team, your ISO certification, and I know that a lot of our textile customers already know and trust Intertek as a world class lab. So we really see Intertek as a very important partner to us. And also, you know, biodegradation testing is very complex, dealing with living systems. I know that we ask you a lot of questions, and sometimes we'll see some unexpected data or something that we wouldn't normally expect to see from something, and your team is also incredibly helpful in helping us decipher what might be going on, just a real scientific partner.

Dhanashree Bhelose  13:33  
Thank you so much, Andrea, and it is really interesting to know that, you know, see, CiCLO degrades in varied habitats, and you know it has wonderful results, and you have a statistical data for it, where it is it can be degradable in by in soil. It can be degradable in different, different marine environments. So, yes, it is really interesting to know more about the product and the chemistry of the subject. So, do you have customers also commissioning this biodegradation test?

Andrea Ferris  14:03  
We do! So, a number of the retailers that we work with, retailers and apparel brands or home textile brands, many of them will take their own samples and send them off. And they might not take them through full complete biodegradation as we do, which is quite an investment, but they might take it up to say, 90 days or 180 days, so that they can see the delta between what they're using today without CiCLO in it, and their products redesigned with the CiCLO technology in it. So we have a number of customers who are doing their own testing.

Dhanashree Bhelose  14:39  
Yeah, true. And, yeah, I understand it's really very critical factor in reducing, you know, the environmental impact. And thank you so much for taking such efforts to having such solutions for the environment. So, my next question to you is, how would you describe current market demands for biodegradable textile and is it driven more by customers, regulation or industry sustainable commitments?

Andrea Ferris  15:09  
There's definitely a growing demand for biodegradable materials, but we do see that more education is required. We have some customers who are very savvy, might have a scientific team on staff there, I understand biodegradation, and it's a quick vetting of the technology. And there are other customers who don't have scientists on staff and need much more of an education around: what is biodegradation? How long does it take in different environments? What are the environmental benefits of it? ; And they really need to know that the product is still going to be incredibly durable during its useful life, because ultimately, that's the important thing we want to have if we're going to be using synthetic materials,we're using them in part for their performance and durability, so we don't want to lose that aspect, but we do want to make sure that any of these fibers that wind up in the environment and can't be recovered, will ultimately biodegrade instead of persist. You know, the textiles industry also moves very slowly. Any new technology or even changes in specs of products that have been running for a long time can take a couple of years to redevelop, test and actually get to market. So there are long lead times for new innovations like this to be adopted at mass scale. And you know, I do think that there could be potential regulation around this. I don't see a day when biodegradable synthetics are actually mandated, but you know, some of the EPR that is coming out like here in California, there is senate bill SB 707, which is extended producer responsibility for textiles. And those regulations are being drafted over the next several years, and will be implemented around 2030, and one of the points in that legislation is actually that the unintentional release of microplastic pollution from synthetic textiles needs to be addressed in some way. So, you know, I do think that there could be some, maybe some positive incentives for using innovative solutions like CiCLO technology that do address the microplastics and the environment.

Dhanashree Bhelose  17:24  
Yeah. Andrea, I totally agree. You know, there are some misconceptions about biodegradability, and obviously, with increasing the technical knowledge about the subject which revolves around biodegradation will surely help, you know, sort this issue. And yes, textile industry is moving slow, but I'm sure you know, with this kind of innovations around it is really going to be very helpful to the environment. So are you seeing any interest from your customers or buyers to reduce microplastic pollutions? And how the conversation about micro plastics pollution influence the textile industry shift towards biodegradable material?

Andrea Ferris  18:10  
Yeah, absolutely. You know. I think society as a whole is very concerned with micro plastic pollution, and it is coming to light that synthetic textiles are a major source of it. So our customers and the buyers definitely want to reduce microplastic pollution, and I think that there are multiple ways to do it, biodegradation, like our solution is excellent for the fugitive fibers that have ended up in the environment, and they're so small, they can't be recaptured, so it's better for them to biodegrade than to persist indefinitely in the environment. But there are other solutions as well. We see brands working towards redeveloping products so that they'll shed less, and actually measuring how much their current products do shed today, so they'll know what kind of improvement that they're making. We also see some brands doing work with their mills and asking them to improve the filtration during the manufacturing process, and that can be incredibly helpful. And also some brands working with washing machine manufacturers or commercial laundering, looking also at the output of their wastewater effluent and looking to bring down the amount of fibers that are making it through any of the filtration. So there are a lot of different solutions that all together, I think, will make a really big impact on this microplastic pollution problem. But you know, to go back to your initial question, yes, we definitely see interest from customers and buyers to reduce microplastic pollution.

Dhanashree Bhelose  19:53  
This was really insightful. And you know, we want to know, in your view, what are the biggest challenges today in addressing microfiber pollution from textile?

Andrea Ferris  20:05  
You know, I think that the major challenges are that it is just such a complex problem. There are so many variables that go into play in how much something sheds, and I think that there are some materials that we as consumers really like to buy that are high shedding, just by nature. If you think about maybe some of our blankets, or, you know, fleece, some fleece can be a major contributor. So there are some things that we may not redesign, if we're, you know, really honest about the things that we like to buy. We like soft and fuzzy, and some of those things might be high shutters. And then you, in addition to so many factors that go into how much something might shed, I think that the measurement of it, although there are standard test methods now, there's a few of them out there that can measure approximately how much something sheds versus another. It's still a very hard thing to really accurately measure, and then there's so many pathways into the environment. So they can be from the washing machine, they can be from the dryer vent. They're airborne just from abrasion when we're using our materials. They're coming off during the manufacturing process, during the dying and other types of finishing processes. So there's, it's just such a big problem, I think that is probably the biggest challenge, and we're really just going to have to hit it with multiple solutions, like I like I was talking about in the last question you asked.

Dhanashree Bhelose  21:37  
Thank you so much, Andrea! So, I'm sure you too, must be facing a lot of challenges, a lot of questions from your customers, too. So, we would just like to know - What misconceptions about biodegradable textile? Often encounter in the market? Like, example, composable and biodegradable, all plastics, or all materials are biodegradable, the speed of biodegradation, or extrapolating data. So you wanted to understand, do you face these kind of challenges?

Andrea Ferris  22:12  
Every day, all of those challenges that you just mentioned, yes. Certainly, and there needs to be a lot of a lot of education around, what does biodegradable mean? Different materials can biodegrade in different environments. You know, for instance, the environments that, say, a biodegradable PLA fork can biodegrade in might only be a high heat commercial compost environment, and that is biodegradation versus, say, our CiCLO solution where we're testing it to ensure that it's biodegrading and aerobic and anaerobic environments at varying temperatures, from ambient to thermophilic, that's a lot for someone to try to wrap their head around and really understand. So biodegradation is a challenging topic in and of itself. There's also, I think, a lot of misconceptions about the idea for how fast something should biodegrade to make it the, you know, beneficial to the environment. And I mean, I'll give you an example that there are here in the United States, there are the FTC, Federal Trade Commission, green guides, and part of what they state is that for something, a plastic product to be labeled as biodegradable, it should biodegrade in one year or less in customary disposal. Which really is not based on science, and that would be dig into where that came from. That came from a consumer perception survey that the FTC hired a company to do, to say to the average consumer, what does biodegradable mean to you? And this might make sense, because the FTC is looking to protect consumers, and they want to make sure that there's no greenwashing going on, but it's not really based on science, so things like that, some of these legacy requirements, I would say, have caused some confusion. And then also, you know, when we're if you look at application to application, there may be things that do need to biodegrade very quickly in the environment, something that, say, is intended to end up in the environment. However, when we're dealing with the unintentional release of microplastics from synthetic textiles that wind up as pollution in the environment, it's very hard to say exactly how fast something will biodegrade. We don't know exactly where that pollution is going to wind up. We don't know what the environmental conditions will be, and those are factors for how fast something will biodegrade. So all of these things really cause some misconceptions over, you know, how things should or should not perform, I would say, in a lab test, and our our perspective on that, and for our particular application where, again, we're dealing with the microplastics that they wind up in the environment can't be recovered. Our our point of view is that we want them to have the inherent capability to biodegrade as long as there's moisture and microorganisms the conditions for biodegradation. And we're a little bit less concerned with exactly how fast, because we also need to have that balance of the durability of the products during the manufacturing, during the use. And I'll also add that polyester fabrics that are made with sequel treated polyester are also still recyclable, and as extended producer responsibility comes to market, and more textiles are chemically or mechanically recycled, that's going to be an important selling point for us.

Dhanashree Bhelose  26:05  
Yes, Andrea, I totally agree on this point. So do you see any gaps in your consumers or customers understanding what biodegradable textile really means?

Andrea Ferris  26:20  
Yeah, yeah, definitely. And really, from the consumer perspective, I would say the average consumer who's going shopping for their clothing may not understand exactly what biodegradable means, and I also think they shouldn't have to. You know, I think that as an industry, we should be finding ways to create the very best products and then marketing the end benefit to a customer. So for instance, on our sea glow fabrics, the end benefit is the reduction of microplastic pollution. But I don't feel that consumers should have to fully educate themselves on exactly what does biodegradation mean and in what environments. Now, the consumers who are interested should have the opportunity to but I really feel that as an industry, we just can't rely on consumers or ask them to really, you know, become scientific experts on certain things, we need to be delivering products to them that are better for them, better for the environment and safe. 

Dhanashree Bhelose  27:30  
Thank you so much, Andrea. Before we wrap up for today, we have a final question for you - Do you anticipate biodegradable textile becoming a standard expectation in your segment within the next 5 to 10 years?

Speaker 1  27:48  
Absolutely, you know, I believe that, say, in the next decade, a large percentage of the polyester that is produced for textiles, apparel, Home Goods, will be made from recycled textile waste, so we'll have fully closed loop textiles and combined with CiCLO technology, so that we ultimately have things that are not extracting new materials from the earth, but reusing what we've already put in, taken from the earth and created, and enabling that to be durable but also biodegradable. And you know, I'd say that as as extended producer responsibility is coming to market, while we're putting this whole infrastructure in place to be remanufacturing things, we should really be just making them even better than they were in the first place, because we have the opportunity to do so, and we have the know how.

Dhanashree Bhelose  28:46  
Thank you so much. Andrea, so would you like to add anything more for our listeners?

Andrea Ferris  28:54  
You know, I would just like to thank you so much for having me on here. And you know, I think that the work that you do there at Intertek is so critical to our business, because really the scientific validation through these respiratory tests might be the most critical part of our business, and it really substantiates the claims of the reduction of microplastic pollution by using CiCLO technology. And you know, I think without a stellar lab like Intertek, we would have a very hard job. So thank you so much for all of the support over the years.

Dhanashree Bhelose  29:30  
Again, thank you so much Andrea and to our listeners for joining us today. Stay tuned for more upcoming episodes on biodegradability. Thank you for listening, and until next time, let's keep driving sustainability forward.