How to save 58% of energy? We give you the keys.

Life Cycle Analysis of our Arpe Microfiber Towels

At Arpe, we care about our actions, processes, and impacts we have on the planet and the people. That's why we are calculating the carbon footprint of our entire company. Meanwhile, though, we have calculated the one of some of our products, such as our microfiber towels. Because to see and know if a product is sustainable, you have to look at its whole lifespan and not just its material.  


Thus, Inèdit and Leitat conducted an analysis of the life cycle of our microfiber towels, according to ISO 14040-44: 2006. For this, five stages were taken into account.


Materials

Our microfiber towels are made of 100% polyester with 30% recycled rPET.

Manufacturing

We first acknowledged that our factory in Arenys de Munt uses 100% renewable energy, hired with the cooperative SOM Energia. We then calculated the energy used for cutting, sewing and printing the towel, which was 0.017 kWh/towel; and the grams of cardboard and polypropylene needed for the packaging.

Distribution

We considered the kilometers of two different routes to distribute the towel: 98.4% by road in Europe and 1.6% by the ocean in America.

Use

For the usage phase, we counted about 150 washes (which do not represent the maximum) and an industrial drying process. These data were compared to a 100% cotton towel and much lower consumptions were reported with our microfiber towel: a saving of 58% of electricity, 55% of water, and 40% of soap.

Life cycle

We considered the scenario that, even though the towels are recyclable, 50% would end up in a landfill and 50% in an incinerator. With the packaging, 42% was considered recycled, 21% landfilled and 37% incinerated.





Results

Our 75 x 155cm microfiber towels have a carbon footprint of 2.70 kg CO2 equivalent. By using renewable energy and 30% recycled material, this is reduced by 21%. Furthermore, the carbon footprint of our microfiber towel is 76% lower than that of a cotton towel of the same dimensions. Continuing with this comparison, the energy savings are truly astounding, of 58% with our towels.

This analysis helped us see where and how to improve because we are obviously not perfect. So, step one: reduce the impact. Step two: compensate for what we can't reduce. 

 

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Arpe Microfiber Towels

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