Environmental Information
The growing focus on sustainable design principles and the environment has led to a proliferation in green claims from many industry sectors regarding the environmental characteristics or performance of their materials and products.
Innova International and our suppliers fully appreciate the need for clear, accurate and whenever possible empirical information with regard to the environmental statements made about our products and their associated applications.
When referring to the environmental qualities of a textile, information can often be confusing, vague and sometimes conflict with commonly held perceptions of certain materials. Innova strive to eliminate these difficulties by clarifying the performance and potential of our products in plain language in an attempt to simplify the specification process and most accurately match the benefits of our textiles to your environmental goals.
Embodied Energy
It is well proven and recognised that lightweight tensile structures by their very nature, consist of fewer material elements and therefore have a lower embodied energy and resource impact than other more typical construction methodologies.
These structures have clear environmental benefits in terms of resource demands and depending upon the design, other environmentally beneficial outcomes.
As these benefits will vary dependant upon issues of design and use of other materials, we present all environmental information on this site as indicative of conceptual benefits only. For more specific information or to question any element provided, please contact the specification team.
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Product Stewardship - Australian Pilot
In a recent (2008) Australian pilot project, Innova International co-ordinated the return to Europe of composite material from an inflateable structure which was being replaced at the end of it's working life.
Innova International is now preparing to become the world’s first Texyloop® recycling collection centre outside of continental Europe. It is proposed that the Texyloop® site will commence operations in late 2009.
Following the 2008 trial, life cycle analysis consultants EVEA produced a report comparing Texyloop® (in Europe) recycling with landfill or incineration in Australia.
This analysis confirmed that recycling was a significantly more beneficial environmental outcome. Innova are proud to have been given the ‘green light’ to become Australia’s only PVC composite fabric recycling program.
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Texyloop®
Growing awareness of Environmental issues and ever increasing demands placed upon natural resources have led Serge Ferrari® to invest significant research and development programs to find responsible methods for the recycling of PVC composite materials.
In partnership with a key supplier and following the investment of more than six million Euros, Serge Ferrari® have developed the Texyloop® recycling process, a world first for the successful separation of the PVC and polyester components.
A network of collection points across Europe now forms the backbone of this fully industrialised recycling / product stewardship service. The process is now being offered as a solution to other manufacturers and converters of composite materials to "close the loop", reclaiming vital raw materials and reducing the environmental impact of disposal by land-fill or incineration.
The growing demand in Europe for companies to take a greater interest in their products’ end of life impacts has placed Texyloop® well to the forefront of Product Stewardship systems in the architectural textile industry.
Serge Ferrari® now utilise the PVC granules that result from the Texyloop® process in the production of new architectural and furniture textiles, helping to reduce the demand for raw materials in their manufacturing processes.
For more information, download our latest Texyloop Focus flyer.
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Öko-Tex Standard
Originally developed to certify the safety of fabrics used in children’s clothing, the Öko-Tex Certification Standard has been expanded to cover all areas of the textile industry.
Ferrari® is among very few manufacturers to have had their production process certified to this rigorous standard which excludes 100 toxic chemicals frequently used in textile manufacture.
Products awarded the Öko-Tex symbol have eliminated these harmful substances and are seen as completely safe for human contact.
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Greenguard Certification
In an exciting development that further bolsters the environmental credentials of the Ferrari® range we are pleased to announce that the entire Soltis® vision range has recently achieved Greenguard® certification under two different categories.
All Soltis® vision fabrics now carry GREENGUARD® Indoor Air Quality Standard certification and the GREENGUARD® Product Emission Standard for Children & Schools. Certification guarantees products meet strict criteria for health and safety and will not emit harmful air pollutants.
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Life Cycle Analysis - LCA
The release of a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for each Ferrari® Architectural textile is a key component in the aim to communicate clear and concise environmental information to Architects and end users of Ferrari® products.
An independent analysis organisation EVEA of France is working their way through the massive task of compiling the information to provide an LCA for each Architectural product and it is proposed that these will be released to the industry as each material is completed.
Each report will provide a comparison of the environmental impacts of the textile through a variety of disposal methods at the end of product life. Certain aspects of the products life cycle are excluded from the LCA analysis due to the enormous variety of end uses and fabrication methods for each material.
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