PrimaLoft and Parley for the Ocean will transform sea plastic in high performance materials
Born between PrimaLoft Inc and the Environmental Organization Parley for the Ocean a strategic partnership that will transform the plastic intercepted from remote islands, beaches and coastal communities in high-performance insulation products for the textile industry.
PrimaLoft, a leading company in cutting-edge materials technology, is the first textile supplier to collaborate with Parley to develop recycled products, with unique features, using plastics collected from the oceans.
According to a UN report, 8 million tons of plastic ends up in the ocean, annually. This huge amount of pollution has an enormous impact, resulting in the deaths of 1 million birds and 100,000 marine mammals every year.
Also the economic consequences are immense: in the same period the plastic causes damage of 8 billion dollars to the marine ecosystems. Parley and PrimaLoft feel obliged to take measures that will have a positive impact on this important environmental problem.
“Collaboration with parley is a perfect match: we both have the same goals: reducing plastic pollution on our planet, especially in the oceans,” says Mike Joyce, President and CEO of PrimaLoft. “Avoiding the production of new fossil oil-based materials wherever possible is also a top priority. After the launch of PrimaLoft Bio, and the demonstration that our fiber is ready to be used in a circular economy, this partnership is another important piece of puzzle in the context of sustainability”.
Parley today operates as a pioneering global supply chain and reclamation networks in 28 countries, intercepting plastic waste from beaches, islands and remote coastal communities.
In 2015, the first products made with Parley Ocean Plastic highlighted the spread of marine plastic pollution and presented a unique solution for such a complex challenge, which deviates from traditional recycling approaches.
“The parley Ocean Plastic brand indicates a range of high-quality materials that turn products into Change Symbols and finance our battle against marine plastic pollution” comments Cyrill Gutsch, Founder and CEO of parley for the oceans. “The enormous success of our partnerships with brands such as adidas and Stella McCartney, athletes, artists and internationally renowned animators has had an effect on the industry as a whole. Recycling is now sexy, desirable and represents a significant project. The purpose is the new luxury.
Today we welcome PrimaLoft as official partner of parley supply chain in our global network, thus adding new types of high-performance materials to our portfolio and strongly supporting the growth of our movement – for the oceans”
“The use of recycled marine plastic waste to create high-standard insulation, which industry expects from PrimaLoft, is a continuous challenge”, Joyce stresses, “the supply of high quality raw materials is essential for the development of our products, and marine plastic often lacks that level of quality. Together with parley, our engineers have developed a method that allows marine plastic to become insulation materials that meet all our high-performance standards. ”
PrimaLoft will do everything possible to incorporate and implement the AIR strategy (avoid. intercept. redesign), to reduce the company’s plastic footprint and join forces in the fight against plastic marine pollution.