From waste into nonwovens

In an effort to reduce waste, Berry Global has formed a closed-loop recycling ecosystem to recycle materials in making its Endura spunbond and meltblown nonwovens product line. 

Berry, headquartered in Evansville, Ind., creates Endura products by recycling the company’s post-industrial waste from its operations. The closed-loop recycling ecosystem is now in operation in six of its existing European locations. Through the ecosystem, Berry supplies customers with nonwoven materials, receives post-industrial waste from the conversion processes of its customers, and incorporates the recycled content into Berry’s Endura nonwovens line. Endura line spunbond products contain up to 90% recycled content for use in applications such as disinfectant wipes, home and bedding, roofing and carpet tiles.

With Endura, Berry aims to increase the availability of post-industrial recycled materials, reducing dependence on virgin polymers. The use of post-industrial materials results in a 70% reduction of CO₂ emissions during the manufacturing process, per kilogram versus virgin materials. 

As part of the Endura ecosystem, Berry collaborates with customers to collect and repelletize nonwoven waste from customer operations. In turn, the material collected re-enters the product stream in the form of new nonwoven materials for customers.