Why our PEEL collection is 65% pure nature certified?
In order to communicate true sustainability, it is essential for us that an external entity independently and unambiguously certifies our work.
Thus, sending one of our products for determination of the natural origin carbon content (derived from plants or renewable materials from agriculture or forestry -biomass) according to ASTM D6866, allows us to prove the true content of Carbon 14 present in our product.
This standard from the American Society for Testing and Materials, allows us to determine the % of carbon from natural sources VS. % carbon from petrochemical sources.
Carbon 14 is only available in nature, so its presence in our products validates our R&D efforts to incorporate renewable raw materials. We sent our Peel collection for testing in the US, and obtained a 65% certificate, which means that 65% of the carbon in our product is of natural origin , and that more than half of its content was replaced by renewable raw materials versus the 35% of carbon from petrochemical origin.
65% of the carbon in our product is of natural origin
It’s Monteiro Fabrics' strategy to ensure true and sustained sustainability. We don't want to deceive our customers, but speak to them in truth and transparency. The development of our products aims at true sustainability: from the supply chain to the final product.
Peel production stages
Sights and Curiosities:
An example of this is coconut shells, which are very abundant in Asia and have no effective destination. We have still carried out some preliminary tests, but we have not continued with the study because its transport to our country would involve a large carbon footprint!
We want to incorporate waste from other industries and try to contribute as much as possible to a circular economy, but the impact of this has to be measured and disseminated to the whole community.
Our recommendations:
Everyone has to play their part and push the whole industry and society towards true sustainability. We can't swap potentially recyclable plastic coffee cups for non-recyclable (plastic film-coated) paper cups just because the trend is "Plastic is bad"! Plastic is not bad, bad is the use we make of it! We should invest in plastic solutions that are durable and reusable.
Examples of this are our highly durable items with a 10 year guarantee. Especially when the goal is to replace hazardous raw materials and incorporate waste from other industries.
Next steps:
Additionally, we focus on sourcing raw materials locally: Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula and Europe in order to reduce our end products’ carbon footprint. Hence the focus on testing and incorporating waste such as chestnut shells or olive stones.
