A Cumbrian paper maker is giving used jeans new life as beautiful paper for packaging.
James Cropper, in Burneside, is taking pre-worn denim and converting it into denim to create its new Rydal Apparel range.
Eight billion pairs of jeans are produced globally each year contributing significantly to textile waste.
According to the World Economic Forum, 73 per cent of worn clothing is incinerated or sent to landfill when discarded. Only 12 per cent is recycled for insulation or mattresses, and less than one per cent is used to make new products.
The Rydal Apparel range of recycled papers is comprised of 20 per cent post-consumer denim fibre and 80 per cent recycled fibre from sources such as used coffee cups.
The paper is 100 per cent recycled, but also globally recyclable. As a cellulose based product, cotton-based paper can be recycled in standard waste streams, giving the fibre not only a second life, but also a potential third and fourth.
Kate Gilpin, packaging project leader at James Cropper, said: “This launch is about giving forgotten fashion a new lease of life.
“Cotton is the purest form of natural cellulose and is a renewable resource often used for its archival qualities in papermaking. Using cotton in paper harks back as far as Shakespeare’s first folio, which exists today because it was penned on paper made from cotton fibres.
“Cotton fibres are strong, yet soft, and make beautiful paper. Although modern papermaking relies heavily on pulps made from wood fibre, we are reviving the use of cotton rag as part of our ongoing commitment to fibre innovation and creating value from waste.”
Rydal Apparel is the latest innovation using James Cropper’s FibreBlend Upcycled Technology. Others include CupCycling, the world’s first technology to upcycle used coffee cups, that has so far given new life to more than 150 million cups as premium paper for packaging.
Rydal Apparel is launching with a 350gsm and 220gsm paper in denim white, which James Cropper says could be used for small boxes, garment tags, gift cards and retail carrier bags.
The pulp used to produce Rydal Apparel paper is created through a technology which allows the cotton to be dissolved and turned into pulp. This process offers the potential to create fibre of equal or higher quality to the properties demanded for premium paper for packaging.
