Analysis of the life cycle of our Arpe towels

  • We help our planet and your electricity bill

    At Arpe we take care of our actions, processes and impacts towards the planet and the people. This is why we have calculated the carbon footprint of our entire company and some of our products, such as our microfiber towels. If we want to know if a product is sustainable, we have to look at its entire life and not just its material.

    So, Inèdit and Leitat analyzed the life cycle of our microfiber towels according to ISO 14040-44: 2006. For this, five phases were taken into account.

Phases

  • strong>Materials Our microfiber towels are made of 100% polyester with 30% recycled rPET

    Manufacturing

    We start from the basis that our factory in Arenys de Munt uses 100% renewable energy, thanks to the solar panels we installed. Then the energy of cutting, sewing and printing the towel was calculated, which was 0.017 kWh/towel, as well as the grams of cardboard and polypropylene in the packaging.

    Distribution

    The kilometers of two different routes through the towel is distributed were considered: 98.4% by road in Europe and 1.6% by ocean to America.

    Use

    For the use phase, about 150 washes (which do not represent the maximum) and an industrial drying process were counted. The results were compared with a 100% cotton terry towel and much lower consumption was reported with our microfiber towel: savings of 58% on electricity, 55% on water and 40% on soap.

    Life Cycle

    Was considered the scenario that, although the towels are recyclable, 50% would end up in a landfill and 50% in an incinerator. With the packaging, it was considered 42% recycled, 21% in landfill and 37% in incinerator.

Results

  • Our 75 x 155cm microfiber towels have a carbon footprint of 2.70 kg of CO2 equivalent. By using renewable energy and 30% recycled material, it is reduced by 21%. In the same way, the carbon footprint of our microfiber towel is 76% lower than a cotton towel of the same size. In addition, the energy saving, among others items, is surprising, that's 58% in the case of our towels.

    This analysis helped us to see where and how to improve because, obviously, we are not perfect. So, first step: reduce the impact. Second step: offset for what we cannot reduce.
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1 comment

What is the price for 100 pieces here?
Arpe microfiber towels – 90×166cm. with one colored printing 20 × 20 cm. centered.

Gün Üret

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