The Renault Group in collaboration with Les Filatures du Parc, a French company specializing in carded yarns and Adient Fabrics, the world’s leading supplier of car seats, have developed a new patented textile product consisting of old seat belts, textile waste from the automotive industry and polyester fibers from the recycling of plastic bottles (recycled PET) for the new Renault Zoe model.
The production process of recycled carded yarns starts from the development of a new industrial defibering line suitable for processing also safety belts, to prepare the second raw materials and optimize the length of the fibers. Once cut and shredded, the belts and textile waste are mixed with polyester fibres from plastic bottles and then carded. Through the traditional carding technique with a system of drums lined with very fine steel tips rotating at high speed, we proceed to disentangle, divide, stretch, align parallel and finally twist the fibers cleaned of impurities.
The short cycle manufacturing process of this yarn, which does not undergo chemical or thermal transformation, reduces co2 emissions by more than 60% compared to the fabric previously used.
This innovative circular material is used for the production of seat covers, dashboard coverings, gear lever brackets and door fittings, meeting the high requirements of comfort, cleanlining, UV resistance and durability required by the company. The Renault Group is strongly committed to implementing resource-efficient circular economy models, adopting strategies for integrating recycled materials into in the material capital of the company.