The textile sector has been constantly investing and exploring new innovations as it faces significant challenges moving into the future in terms of fibre recycling technologies and alternative material sources, especially with the most common fibres, like cotton, are generally inseparable from chemicals and binders and consequently very expensive to reprocess to the recycle or biodegrade.
The Philippine Textile Research Institute has recently discover a new solution, the potential opportunity to use banana plant stems as the source of a new bio-sourced fibre. Research found that around one billion tonnes of banana plant stems are wasted every year with the potential for banana plantations in the Philippines alone generating more than 300,000 tonnes of textile fibre.
As is the case with most exploratory materials, the full potential and possibilities of the banana stem fibre is pretty much an unknown. However, textile company Offset Warehouse are one of the first movers experimenting with the new material, which is likened to hemp or bamboo. It needs fewer chemicals and less water to manufacture and can be mostly bio-degraded at the end of use.
In the textiles sector where there is significant turnover in terms of products, it is becoming obvious that finding a way to utilize materials in more than one cycle will definitely offer companies a considerable economic advantage.