LENZING – Austrian speciality fibre maker, Lenzing, will invest more than €100m in sustainable production up to 2022. The business says it will use the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as guiding principles for its sustainability agenda, and will also aim to have all its sites fulfill the stringent EU Ecolabel standard by the same year.
A major part of its investment will focus on closed loop production technologies for the expansion of its sulphur recovery systems, as well as in improving effluent treatment units. In addition, Lenzing will upgrade its energy usage to more sustainable solutions reducing its greenhouse gas emissions due to the construction of a gas boiler at its site in China. This investment aims to strengthen Lenzing’s sustainability leadership at its viscose facility in Nanjing.
Stefan Doboczky, CEO, said: “The textile and the nonwoven industries face fundamental challenges related to sustainability. Lenzing is passionate to take a leadership role in addressing this and making the world a better place. Our holistic approach to sustainability underpins this scope. The new eco-investment program is a major step forward in our ambitions.”
“The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are a universal call for a sustainable economy that protects the planet and ensures prosperity and well-being for all people”, added Lenzing chief commercial officer Robert van de Kerkhof. “With our Refibra technology, Lenzing is innovating to support a more circular, bio-based economy, contributing in particular to SDG 12”, he adds.
With the Lenzing Group sustainability targets announced in 2018, Lenzing says it is also striving to upgrade all its production sites to the ambitious European Ecolabel standard by 2022.
