BCI wants traceability by 2022, but will retain mass balance

LONDON – The Better Cotton Initiative says it will introduce a new traceability chain of custody model as early as 2022 – but will continue to use the contentious mass balance system alongside it. Mass balance is a widely used volume-tracking system that allows Better Cotton to be substituted or mixed with conventional cotton with equivalent volumes are sourced as Better Cotton.

Brands and retailers are increasingly looking at solutions which offer more traceability and transparency in cotton supply chains, than mass balance, including tech solutions underpinned by blockchain and/or the use of molecular tagging technology.