Hello and welcome to the Strawman - the daily climate newsletter that’s smart and funny. Just like you! 😉

In today’s edition we’re checking out the latest in recycling in the apparel industry, some new tech just made your shopping addiction a little bit more acceptable. Let’s get in to it.

Reactivating Activewear

Did you know that Nylon and Polyester make up 60% of clothing produced today but 87% of this ends up in landfills or incinerated. These materials are particularly helpful in the apparel industry due to their flexibilty and resilience but it’s exactly these properties which make them so difficult to recycle.

Enter Samsara Eco.

This week they’ve announced a partnership with and minority investment from Lululemon to tackle this problem. Did someone say paper leggings?

Not exactly, Samsara Eco uses enzyme-based tech to recycle plastics, textiles and other materials countless number of times. They claim that they’ve created the world’s first infinitely recycled nylon 6,6 and polyester from apparel waste.

Essentially, Samsara has developed enzymes which break down plastics (polymers) into their chemical building blocks (monomers). So they can take that Lululemon top you thought you’d fit in to and turn it in to a backpack for next season’s collection. And again, and again, and again.

Lululemons to Lululemonade

The partnership is key to Lululemon’s sustainable agenda and their roadmap to create all of their products through sustainable material by 2030. Similarly, the partnership helps Samsara hit their goals of recycling 1.5m tonnes of plastic annually by 2030.

As part of these aims, Lululemon has also leaned into encouraging re-use by developing their own programme for used clothing title ‘Like New’. The take up for the program is yet to be validated but it plays an important role in hitting their targets.

Only time will tell exactly how impactful these new program will be at scale but in theory, this new initiative could help bring down emissions from apparel to near zero. We’ll be keeping track.

Until next time,

The Strawman