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#Recycling / Circular Economy

From the road to the track: VESTAMID® eCO gives scrap tires a new life in athletic shoes

In the production of VESTAMID® eCO E40, 50 percent of fossil raw materials are replaced by circular material from used tires. The proven performance properties of the material for sports shoe soles with high resilience, however, do not change. © 2022 Evonik
Evonik is introducing a new sustainable high-performance plastic to its eCO product line. In the production of the polyamide 12 elastomer (PEBA) VESTAMID® eCO E40, 50 percent of fossil raw materials are saved and replaced by a starting material obtained from chemical recycling of used tires. In addition, only renewable energy is used in production, which reduces the carbon footprint by a total of 42 percent. Evonik will present VESTAMID® eCO and its other sustainable plastic materials under the motto "Next generation plastic solutions" at this year's K trade show in Düsseldorf, Germany, October 19-26, at booth B28 in hall 6.
  • Replacement of 50 percent raw material with used tires
  • Produced exclusively with renewable energy
  • More than 40 percent less CO2

Circular raw material

VESTAMID® eCO E40, like its classically produced counterpart VESTAMID® E40, is a thermoplastic elastomer from the polyether block amide family with consistently high quality. PEBA molding compounds have been valued by well-known sporting goods manufacturers for more than 40 years and are used, for example, in sports shoe soles. The new product name eCO reinforces Evonik's goal of reducing greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in production by using renewable or circular raw materials-in this case, raw materials from used tires that would otherwise end up in landfills or used thermally. This is achieved through the mass balance approach (further information: Mass Balance Approach VESTAMID® eCO). The method enables an immediate reduction of CO2 in existing plants and does not change the quality of the products in any way.

VESTAMID® eCO E40 is, without any restrictions, an immediate alternative with improved eco-balance for the long-established conventional molding compound for sports shoe soles with high resilience. The soles exhibit excellent low-temperature impact strength, chemical resistance and high elasticity, and are easy to color, process and overmold. Like the molding compounds of the VESTAMID® PEBA range, which have proven themselves for more than four decades, they can also be used in other demanding applications, such as in the automotive and medical technology industries.


 

Mass balance approach

In the mass balance method, the proportions of mixtures of fossil and renewable or circular raw materials are determined mathematically over the entire value chain during production and assigned to the products. A neutral body verifies this across all production stages and confirms the result in a certificate.


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#Texprocess 2026

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#Techtextil 2026

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#ITM 2026

BB Engineering unveils new, patented “Val-uePack” spin pack at ITM

At the upcoming ITM in Istanbul, taking place June 9–13 at the Tüyap Fair Convention and Congress Center in Hall 7, Booth 702B, BB Engineering will once again be represented at a joint booth with its parent company, Barmag, and its representative, Tekstil Servis. The German machine manufacturer will show-case its expertise in man-made fiber and recycling technology, presenting its entire product portfolio, which includes compo-nents such as extruders and filters, as well as complete sys-tems for spinning synthetic fibers, air-texturing, and PET recy-cling.

#Recycled Fibers

Syre expands partnership with Target to advance next-generation recycled materials at scale

Advancing next-generation materials to support scalable circular solutions across global retail Stockholm, May 2026 — Syre, the textile impact company hyperscaling textile-to-textile recycling today announced an expanded collaboration with Target to accelerate the adoption of next-generation recycled materials across retail at scale.

#Recycling / Circular Economy

Project REWEAR investigates diverse economies of rewear as a global practice of circularity

Every year, European households discard millions of tonnes of clothing. Around a quarter of what gets separately collected is exported, much of it classified as rewearable. A significant share ends up in markets like Kantamanto in Accra, Ghana, where an estimated 15 million garments arrive every week. New research published today reveals what happens when that clothing arrives.

#Recycling / Circular Economy

RE&UP contributes to Global Fashion Summit 2026 circularity discussion

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#INDEX 2026

“We clearly see that reliability, flexibility, service and total cost of ownership are becoming increasingly important again.”

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“Needle punching technology is more universal and sustainable than ever!”

Needle punching technology was long regarded as a rather traditional and comparatively slow technology within the nonwovens industry. In this interview, Johann Philipp Dilo explains why needle punching is more relevant than ever today – ranging from energy efficiency and resource conservation to hygiene applications, new machine concepts and design-oriented nonwoven solutions.

#Research & Development

Textile climate control system in workwear – exhibition at the 2026 SME Innovation Day!

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