Ars Tinctoria CEO Gustavo Defeo presents the results of the company’s recent study, published in MDPI’s Coatings journal, and discusses its methodology and some results.

Ars Tinctoria initiated this research on radiocarbon quantification on leather and other fashion materials during 2018 while studying the latest European regulatory trends on circularity and sustainability in a Green Deal policy context. The concept of bioeconomy proposed by Europe justified the need to evolve all sectors of materials towards a new analytical point of view, creating a new paradigm on materials development. All materials sectors should address their future developments not only considering the technical achievements required in terms of resistance, fastness properties and durability, but bearing in mind the ability to close the lifecycle with all possible end-of-life options which may result in zero waste and at the same time achieve carbon neutrality.

Considering that, with such limitations, it is easy to fall into greenwashing temptations, the choice for this research was to begin with an understanding of the intrinsic circularity of the materials and related processes, with the awareness that a true circular material must be originated from a series of circular events. This keeps eventual CO2 compensations as a last resort when recognising that all possible variables aiming for carbon neutrality were meticulously considered and adopted. The separation of each circular event involved in a process allows the attribution of impacts originating in the materials’ components themselves, managing electricity, water treatment, heat, transport, etc. separately and providing a clearer scene of each single environmental contribution.

From scientific experiences in textile, bioplastics and alternative fashionable materials developments, it is possible to recognise that the discrimination of biobased/fossil carbon proportions, although of capital importance, is a necessary but not sufficient condition in the understanding of the environmental performance of materials. To be precise in calculations and cover the complete lifecycle of a material, we also need to understand the biomass content (which is part of Ars Tinctoria’s new research, but not easy due to the complexity of leather processing). Last but not least, we must comprehend all end-of-life options such as material recycling, organic recycling, energy recovery (and consequent greenhouse gas generation) and biodegradability (and the impact of the degradation products).