Different Types of Eco-Friendly Fabrics
As a carbon-neutral company, sustainable shading and eco-friendly manufacturing is something we talk about a lot. However, sustainability can have many different meanings – from how the blind is made, to what it’s made from, the impact shading can have on energy efficiency, health & wellbeing etc.
In this blog post, we’re going to break down the different types of eco-friendly fabrics, and what a manufacturer can mean when they describe a fabric as eco-friendly.
But firstly, why is sustainable shading important?
The Importance of Sustainable Shading
According to Greenpeace, ‘The effects of climate change include extreme heat and drought, more rainfall and more frequent extreme weather events such as storms and floods. From only 1ºC above what they were before the industrial era, small changes in temperatures are already affecting the environment and people worldwide’.
Blinds and curtains may seem like a tiny, insignificant industry when it comes to causing global environmental changes, but we are part of a much larger industry – construction.
A new building can produce around 80 tonnes of carbon emissions. That’s equal to about 5 new cars – and that’s just for a typical 2- bedroom house! Imagine the impact every time a new skyscraper is constructed.
Consequently, there have been developments that show the industry has noticed and is adapting to suit our environmentally conscious society. ‘Green buildings’ or ‘Green construction’ is the new normal in 2022. More and more companies are expected to adopt these new building techniques as our concern for environmental safeguarding continues.
Types of Eco-Friendly Blind Fabrics
There are a lot of eco-friendly fabrics available these days, but not every one is made equal. Let’s break down the different types of sustainable fabric types so you can be aware of the differences and make sure you make the best choice for you on your next project.
Commonly, blind fabrics will contain PVC or acrylic, even in small amounts. This is because these materials are affordable, easy to access and produce a fabric that is stable and easy to clean.
However, these materials are difficult to recycle, require fossil fuels to produce and don’t break down for hundreds of years in landfills.
Recycled Materials
The more we recycle and extend the lifespan of materials, the less waste ends up in landfills and incineration plants. By reusing items such as plastic in new materials, such as fabrics, we can save production and energy costs, and reduce the negative impact that creating a virgin material has.
For example, manufacturing with recycled aluminium cans uses 95 percent less energy than creating the same amount of aluminium with bauxite.
There are many different options if you want to use sustainable fabric for your blinds. Our Spectrum 4060 fabric is an aluminium backed screen fabric made from 100% recycled PET bottles. PET is commonly used for packaging e.g. plastic containers, drink bottles.
Whilst PET is highly recyclable, it is difficult to reuse to make food-grade products such as bottles and containers. This is why it is used by so many other industries to make things like fabrics.
There are even some eco fabrics, like Sea Planet from Vertisol, that are made mainly from plastic collected from the bottom of the sea. Fishermen collect rubbish that gets tangled in their fishing nets, which is then separated. The PET is kept while the rest is sent for appropriate treatment. The PET is then recycled into a polymer that turns it into 100% polyester yarn, which is used to make Sea Planet.
Another of the most common recycled materials used in roller blind fabrics is fibreglass. Fibreglass is made of glass like that in windows or kitchen drinking glasses. To manufacture fibreglass, glass is heated until molten, then forced through superfine holes. This creates glass filaments, or threads, that are extremely thin. These flexible filament threads can be used in several applications, such as fabrics.
According to the National Waste and Recycling Association’s newsletter “Waste360”, recyclers are turning broken glass into a viable resource known as cullet (glass that’s been crushed and cleaned), which in turn, is being sold to manufacturers of fibreglass.
Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-fiberglass-or-glass-fiber-820469
Some popular roller blind fabrics made with fibreglass are;
Check for ‘Cradle to Cradle’ Certification
Cradle to Cradle Certified® is the global standard for products that are safe, circular and responsibly made.
Leading brands, retailers, designers and manufacturers across the value chain rely on the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard to ensure the impact of their products on people and planet is a positive one.
Cradle to Cradle Certified assesses the safety, circularity and responsibility of materials and products across five categories of sustainability performance:
- Material Health: ensuring materials are safe for humans and the environment
- Product Circularity: enabling a circular economy through regenerative products and process design
- Clean Air & Climate Protection: protecting clean air, promoting renewable energy, and reducing harmful emissions
- Water & Soil Stewardship: safeguarding clean water and healthy soils
- Social Fairness: respecting human rights and contributing to a fair and equitable society
Many manufacturers, such as Vertisol, have achieved Cradle to Cradle certification for their blind fabrics. One of their fabrics, Pledge FR, is made mainly from PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) which is extracted from sugar cane, beets and corn which are renewable and sustainable sources.
If you want to choose a fabric that is sustainable in terms of both its environmental and social impact, looking for C2C certification is a great place to start.
Source: https://www.c2ccertified.org/get-certified/product-certification
Recyclable Materials
Even fabrics that aren’t made from a recycled material can still be sustainable if the material used can be recycled.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was one of the first plastics discovered and is also one of the most extensively used. It is a thermoplastic resin derived from salt (57%) and oil or gas (43%). It is the world’s third-most widely produced synthetic plastic polymer, after polyethylene and polypropylene.
PVC’s performances are hard to match. It is durable, light, strong and fire-resistant, with excellent insulating properties and low permeability. By using additives in the manufacturing process, features such as strength, rigidity, weathering, colour, and transparency can be adjusted to meet specific needs.
Source: https://plasticseurope.org/plastics-explained/a-large-family/polyvinyl-chloride-pvc-2/
When it reaches its end of life, PVC can be recycled. In fact, PVC has the longest history of recycling amongst plastics and the most advanced level of mechanical recycling.
Source: https://www.vinylplus.eu/circular-economy/pvc-a-recyclable-material/
In blind fabric manufacture, PVC is often used in combination with fibreglass or polyester to give the fabric extra strength, water resistance and a more long-wearing finish. Some of our favourite fabrics that use PVC are:
- Merdian
- Diffusion
- Spectrum 5010 1-10%
- Solaye Sunshadow 3000 CA Alu 3%
For more information on sustainable shading, whether that’s an automated shading solution, advice on fabrics or more information about the importance of reducing energy usage, get in touch with us!
We are experts on automation and motorisation, and we’re passionate about sustainable shading.