Texon publishes second Sustainability Report – highlighting achievements in an unprecedented year

Today, on Earth Day, Texon releases its second annual Sustainability Report, reinforcing its ambition to become a zero-waste organisation by 2025, and documenting the results of its environmental efforts in an unprecedented year in business.

The 2020 Texon Sustainability Report highlights the company’s key achievements in a year dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, including innovating materials, developing closed-loop projects with customers and reducing high-energy production processes to progress towards Texon’s four sustainability goals for 2025:

• Reducing its carbon footprint by 50%.
• Cutting the use of virgin materials by 50%.
• Ensuring 90% of waste is recyclable or reusable.
• Reducing water usage and water waste by 20%.

With the emergence of COVID-19, protecting employees and their families was a key priority for Texon in 2020. The organisation quickly incorporated safe working practices for shop floor workers, as well as flexible working options and health-related information programmes. In parallel, the business continued to drive forward its zerofootprint sustainability programme with a focus on innovation to reduce environmental impact and meet customers’ sustainability needs. Faced with fresh logistical and operational challenges created by the pandemic, Texon still managed to:

• Cut its group average water usage intensity (m3/net tonne) by almost 10% since 2019; with its site in China reducing water consumption by 48%
• Open a new production facility in Vietnam, which has sustainability designed into its very fabric, with solar panels generating up to 45% of the site’s energy needs; energy efficient LED lighting fitted throughout; and closed loop water cycles on the factory floor to cool down machinery.
• Develop four new sustainable products – Sportflex Eco, Sportflex Bio, X8S and Bioform
• Increase its use of secondary fibres – see below for more information on cutting virgin materials.

Jelle Tolsma, CEO of Texon, said:

“Sustainability has always been a key part of our DNA. In the face of an unpredictable year, we refused to let COVID-19 set us back on our sustainability journey. In fact, as an urgent reminder of our responsibility to people and planet, it has only strengthened our resolve. Thanks to the dedication and determination of our teams, we continue to lead on initiatives that will help us to accelerate our progress towards zero waste. Our second Sustainability Report reflects this immense achievement as we work closely together with our customers and supply chain to revolutionise our impact on the planet. It also showcases our culture of innovation, which will be key as we continually challenge ourselves to find new, ground-breaking solutions at the forefront of sustainable design.”

Other accomplishments, highlighted in the Texon 2020 Sustainability Report, include:

Cutting virgin materials

Throughout 2020, Texon actively explored unconventional, bio-based and recycled content as alternatives to virgin materials, in line with its policy that all developments across new and heritage lines must have a minimum of 50% sustainable content.

A key area of focus is increasing recycled materials in many hero products with secondary fibres. In line with this commitment, Texon started using post-industrial waste such as ‘ghost nets’, plastic bottles, toilet roll ends and sugar cane waste. The business also reduced the amount of latex in many of its products.

Tackling waste

Texon works closely with customers to embed circular design and address the global plastic waste issue with closed-loop projects that upcycle waste streams into new, value-added products. In 2020, the team developed the revolutionary material Texon Ecoline, using 85% recycled polyester (rPET), for a customer seeking to close the loop. Ecoline insoles can be returned and re-cut at Texon’s factory, which uses the waste to make new more of the same product. In addition, Texon offers recycling initiatives such as a take-back service retrieving paper scraps from customers to recycle into new materials.

Reducing carbon footprint

In parallel, Texon has streamlined production processes to adapt to new materials, leading to improved efficiencies. Production of Texon Ecoline requires 50% less energy than other processes and uses less water and fewer chemicals. Meanwhile, Texon Vogue, a 100% FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) cellulose alternative to leather, emits 93% less carbon during manufacture than leather. By 2020, Texon had reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 15% when compared with 2015.

Reducing water usage and waste

Furthermore, Texon continues to limit its water usage, treating, reusing and recycling wastewater as much as possible, and has developed cleaning processes that return water to water systems cleaner than when sourced. Since 2015, Texon has reduced water use intensity by 15%.

Discover more about Texon’s world leading products and 2025 sustainability goals, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with our latest announcements.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT HERE