PANECO® Philosophy

Putting Textile Circularity into Practice in Society

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1   The Board Is Not the Goal

Chapter 2   Urban Forest

Chapter 3   Urban Circularity

Chapter 4   Own-Resource Circularity

Chapter 5   The Textile Circularity Ecosystem

Chapter 6   Best-Fit Circularity

Chapter 7   A New Infrastructure for Society

Chapter 8   Putting Circularity into Practice

Chapter 9   Resource Security

Chapter 10  Zero Waste

Epilogue   From Philosophy to Practice

Preface

It began with a single board.

Recycling textiles that had fulfilled their original purpose into a new board. That was PANECO®’s first challenge.

The board was complete. But a new challenge began there. As we brought the finished board into society, we came to understand that making a board was only the beginning.

For circularity to work, the board had to be used. It had to be collected after fulfilling its purpose, recovered as a resource, and transformed into a new material. It then had to serve another purpose and be used in society once again.

Each of these was a challenge that developing the board alone had not allowed us to fully grasp. With each practical step, our questions extended beyond the board itself.

What is a resource?

What is circularity?

What does it mean to implement an idea in society?

The PANECO® philosophy set out here emerged from the practical work of continuing to confront these questions. A challenge that began with a single board gradually grew into a philosophy of textile circularity, fostering a new perspective on society.

What follows is not the development history of a single product. It is a philosophy that emerged from efforts to put textile circularity into practice in society.

Chapter 1

The Board Is Not the Goal

PANECO® began by developing a single board. The initial goal was to recycle textiles that had fulfilled their original purpose into a new board—a material that could be put to use in society. The board was complete.

But that was the beginning of the challenge of making it a material that people could actually use. Its performance and quality had to meet the requirements of each application: performance as a building material, quality as a material for furniture, and aesthetic appeal as a material that shapes spaces. A production system capable of delivering consistent quality on an ongoing basis was also essential.

As we addressed these challenges one by one and moved forward with putting circularity into practice in society, the distinction between completing a product and establishing resource circularity became clear. A board fulfills its purpose only when it is used. Once that purpose has been fulfilled, it needs to be collected again and recycled into another material or product.

Making it. Putting it to use. Collecting it after it has fulfilled its purpose and putting it to use again. Only when all these stages are connected does resource circularity become a reality.

The board was both a product to be completed and a gateway to putting used textiles to work in society once again.

The board was not the goal.

A single board was the first practical step through which PANECO® arrived at its philosophy of textile circularity.

Chapter 2

Urban Forest

As we brought PANECO® board into society, our understanding of resources themselves began to change. Wood-based boards are made from wood grown in forests. Forests have nurtured the materials that support society, supplying them for buildings, furniture, and interiors.

Where, then, do the used textiles that become the raw material for PANECO® board come from?

The answer lay in cities. Clothing worn in everyday life. Uniforms used by companies and schools. Linens and curtains that have served their purpose in hotels, offices, and commercial facilities. Cities hold textile resources accumulated through daily life and the activities of society.

Once they have fulfilled their purpose, these textiles may be treated as waste.

But through our practical work with PANECO® board, we began to see them very differently. If forests supply wood as a resource, could the textiles found in cities also be seen as a source of materials that support society?

For metals, there is the concept of the ‘urban mine’: viewing the metals contained in used products found in cities as resources. Extending this perspective to textiles led us to a realization.

A city is more than a place where resources are consumed. The city itself is a repository of textile resources awaiting their next purpose.

PANECO® calls this view of resources the ‘Urban Forest.’

The Urban Forest is a way of seeing the textiles found in cities as resources, and the city itself, like a forest, as a source of materials that support society.

The practical work that began with a single board did more than create a new material. It changed the way we saw resources themselves.

Chapter 3

Urban Circulation

Once we began to see cities as a source of resources, another insight emerged.

Resources do not circulate simply because they exist.

Cities contain textile resources that have fulfilled their original purpose. To put those resources to use in society again, collection must be connected to recycling, manufacturing, and use. After they have fulfilled their new purpose, they must be collected once more and connected to their next use.

As we brought PANECO® board into society, the importance of connecting every stage became clear.

We can make a board. But unless it is used, it cannot fulfill its purpose as a material that supports society. Even if it is used, circularity ends there if it is not collected after fulfilling its purpose. Even if it is collected, it cannot move on to another purpose unless it is put to use in society again.

Circularity is not a single process. It is a system through which resources continue to circulate within society, serving successive purposes.

This led us to a realization. Textiles that have been used in cities and fulfilled their original purpose can become materials that support cities once again. Corporate uniforms and clothing are transformed into PANECO® board. The board is used in furniture, building materials, and interior finishes, serving a new purpose in spaces where people work, live, and gather.

Our aim is to collect it again after it has fulfilled that purpose and connect it to another use. Resources found in cities become materials that support cities, continuing to serve new purposes within them.

PANECO® calls this vision of society ‘Urban Circularity.’

Urban Circularity means more than recycling within a city. It is a social system that uses resources found in cities as new materials, enabling them to serve successive purposes while supporting urban life and activities.

Chapter 4

Own-Resource Circularity

The concept of Urban Circularity raised a new question.

Who takes an active role in circularity?

Through our work on circularity for corporate uniforms, a challenge became clear. A company sends uniforms that have fulfilled their purpose for collection. Their materials are recovered as resources and transformed into other products.

Yet the company that provided them may find it difficult to see where those resources go or how they are subsequently used. The company participates in circularity, yet it may struggle to see how the resources it has sent out serve a new purpose, or to take part in their use within its own activities.

This prompted an idea. Could resources that a company sends out be brought back to that company?

Used uniforms are collected, recycled into PANECO® board, and used for furniture or interior finishes. They become materials that support offices, stores, and showrooms.

The resources a company has sent out return to its own spaces. Circularity expands from an initiative to send resources out into one that puts their value to use in the company’s own spaces.

Employees can experience, in their everyday surroundings, how the uniforms they once wore now serve a new purpose. Visitors can encounter the company’s commitment to resource circularity through those spaces.

Circularity becomes something visible and tangible in the company’s daily life. This practice led us to a realization: there is also value in transforming the resources a company sends out into something that supports its own activities, and putting them to use again.

PANECO® calls this approach ‘Own-Resource Circularity.’

Own-Resource Circularity does not mean carrying out the recycling process in-house. It means transforming the resources an organization sends out into new value and using them again within its own activities.

Those who generate used materials are not outside circularity. They, too, are active participants in creating it.

Chapter 5

The Textile Circularity Ecosystem

The concept of Own-Resource Circularity revealed a broader reality. Even a circular system in which a company puts its own resources to use again cannot be sustained by that company alone. There are people who collect them. People who recycle them. People who turn materials into products. And people who use those products.

Even the Own-Resource Circularity of a single company is supported by collaboration among diverse participants. When we consider textile circularity across society, the roles required become broader still: companies and people who send resources onward; businesses responsible for collection and sorting; businesses responsible for recycling; manufacturers who turn materials into products; and designers and companies who choose recycled materials. And the people who use those products.

Each plays a different role in supporting circularity. As we worked toward putting circularity into practice in society, we came to a realization. Even excellent technology cannot keep resources circulating through society unless the stages before and after it are connected. Collected resources need someone who can recycle them.

Recycled materials need someone who can turn them into products. Finished products need people and places that will use them. And products that have fulfilled their role need someone who can return them to the cycle. What matters is making each stage work while connecting it to the next.

From collection to sorting. From sorting to recycling. From recycling to product manufacturing. From manufacturing to use. And from use back to collection. Creating these connections requires an understanding of what adjacent stages need from one another, and coordination of their respective roles. Different technologies and businesses come together to function as a single cycle.

Extending this collaboration to a wider range of companies and regions can support textile circularity across society. PANECO® also plays a role within this system, building circularity together with other participants.

PANECO® calls this system, in which diverse participants share responsibilities and collaborate to support the circulation of textile resources, the “Textile Circularity Ecosystem.”

Chapter 6

Best-Fit Circularity

Connecting diverse participants and technologies creates a range of options for textile circularity.

This led to the next question: which circular pathway should each resource follow? Society contains a wide variety of textile resources. Their materials differ. Their uses differ. The conditions in which they are used differ. Their condition after fulfilling their role differs. No single method can keep all textile resources in circulation.

That is why choosing a suitable circular pathway for each resource matters. Reuse practices developed over many years have their role. Fiber-to-fiber recycling has its role. Technologies that recycle textiles into wiping cloths, felt and other materials also have their role. These are important circular pathways that should continue to develop.

Where an item can remain in use, its value should be preserved. Where it is to be recycled, it should be directed toward its next use according to its material and condition. These choices must also take into account the quality and safety required after recycling, environmental impacts, and whether continued use is feasible. These factors should be compared, and choices reviewed in light of insights gained through practice.

Selecting suitable technologies and uses, with the characteristics of the resource as the starting point: this is the basis of Best-Fit Circularity.

Yet some textile resources are difficult to use through existing methods. Contaminated textiles. Severely degraded textiles. Textiles that are difficult to recycle because of their material composition or condition. For these resources, adequate circular pathways are not yet available. PANECO® aims to expand the options for bringing such resources into circulation.

We assess safety and the potential for recycling according to the condition of each resource, and explore ways to put it to use again in society. While building on existing circular pathways, we seek new roles for resources that have previously been difficult to use. As each technology applies its strengths and connects suitable resources to their next use, the range of resources society can put to use expands.

PANECO® is one of these options, with a role in supporting and expanding textile circularity. We select the most suitable method for each resource, considering its characteristics, its next use, and the conditions needed to sustain circularity.

This is what PANECO® means by “Best-Fit Circularity.”

Chapter 7

A New Infrastructure for Society

Connecting diverse participants and choosing suitable circular pathways for resources. As we continued this work, another realization emerged. Creating a circular system and embedding it in society are not the same thing. Circular systems established by individual companies or initiatives need to develop into systems in which many people and companies can continue to participate.

This requires a shared foundation across society that supports collaboration among participants. Waste paper, glass bottles and metal cans circulate through society not only because effective recycling technologies exist. There are collection systems. Rules for separating waste. Industries that use recycled resources.

And there are institutional and business foundations that support them. Together, these make circularity part of everyday life. Textile circularity also needs to reach this stage. Where should products be taken for collection once they have fulfilled their role? How should they be separated, and in what condition should they be handed over?

Who will recycle the collected resources, and to which uses will they be directed? Who will bear the costs and responsibilities, and how will these be shared? These conditions and rules are shared, and accessible collection and recycling destinations are secured. Systems are also established to sustain the use of recycled materials and products. With this foundation in place, circularity can continue even as participating companies and people change.

Alongside technological development, the conditions that allow continued participation in circular systems must be established. This supports their integration into society. Companies and other businesses undertake circular activities as part of their operations and build structures that enable them to continue. Users use products and send them for collection once they have fulfilled their role. Public authorities support the foundation through institutions and public systems.

Where needed, changes to institutional frameworks and legislation also play an important role in extending circularity across society. Their purpose is both to support individual initiatives and to build the foundations of future society. Just as roads support the movement of people and goods, water supply systems support daily life, and electricity supports industry, textile circularity can become another foundation that supports society.

From a society that discards resources after use to one in which resources continue to serve new purposes. The social system that supports this transition is a new infrastructure for society. Embedding textile circularity as an everyday system in which many people and companies can continue to participate.

This is PANECO®’s vision of a new infrastructure for society.

Chapter 8

Putting Circularity into Practice

To develop textile circularity into a foundation that supports society, its philosophy must be translated into actual products, businesses and social systems. Excellent technology alone does not take root in society. Products fulfill their role when they are used. Circular systems become part of society’s foundations when they function in practice and continue to do so.

Putting circularity into practice in society involves more than making new technologies and products widely available. It means establishing the conditions that allow them to be used in society and to continue fulfilling their roles. It begins with practical work in one company, in one place. Making something. Using it. Identifying challenges. Making improvements.

The insights gained through this work are then carried forward to the next company or region.

That is why PANECO® places importance on drawing on the industrial foundations society has built over many years. There are advanced manufacturing technologies. Production facilities. Systems for maintaining quality. Reliable supply structures. And the experience and knowledge of the people who support them. These are major assets for extending textile circularity across society.

PANECO® aims to connect these assets with new technologies and ideas, bringing circularity into actual manufacturing. PANECO® board is one example of this approach in practice. Textiles that have fulfilled their role are recycled into materials for building applications, furniture and interiors. These materials are connected to existing manufacturing and processing technologies and supply systems.

We assess how raw materials can be handled and under what production conditions, establish the quality required for their intended uses, and build a structure for continued supply. Through these practices, PANECO® board provides one model for implementation in society, extending textile circularity by drawing on existing industrial foundations. Bringing products into use in society is an important step toward putting circularity into practice.

By also connecting products to collection and recycling after they have fulfilled their role, product adoption can develop into sustained circularity. Insights from individual projects are accumulated and shaped into approaches that other companies and regions can also use. Through these successive efforts, textile circularity takes root in society. From philosophy to practice.

From practice to lasting systems. And from those systems to everyday life in society.

This is how PANECO® understands putting circularity into practice in society.

Chapter 9

Resource Security

The concept of the Urban Forest began by rethinking the textile resources present in cities as assets for society. Expanding this perspective led to a further understanding: resource circularity addresses environmental challenges while also contributing to resource security. Every day, textiles reach the end of their use in society.

They do not lose their potential as resources the moment their use ends. Through appropriate collection, recycling, and connection to new uses, they can once again become materials that support society. Turning what has previously been treated as waste into an asset for society. Through these efforts, new options for supplying materials can develop within society.

Securing a reliable supply of the resources society needs. This requires both securing external supplies and developing the capacity to make use of resources already present within society. Even as resource availability and prices fluctuate, locally available resources can be collected and recycled into the materials that are needed.

This capacity supports society’s resource supply.

Yet the mere presence of resources does not create a capacity to supply them. Collection systems are needed. Recycling technologies are needed. Systems are needed to ensure quality appropriate to each use and to sustain production and supply. It is also essential to pass on the knowledge and experience of the people who carry out this work.

Resources, and the capacity to use them. Developing both within society contributes to resource security. Cities are more than places that consume resources. They can also become sources of materials that support society. By making use of resources present in cities and diversifying material supply sources, textile circularity helps sustain society.

PANECO® aims to pass these resources, together with the systems that enable their use, on to the next generation. Safeguarding resources involves more than securing new supplies. It also means having the capacity to keep making use of existing resources within society.

This is PANECO®’s understanding of resource security.

Chapter 10

Zero Waste

— The Culmination of the PANECO® Philosophy —

PANECO®’s vision of Zero Waste is a society that works toward eliminating waste by enabling resources to continue serving new purposes. Using resources with care. Keeping what can still be used in service for longer. Connecting what has completed one role to its next use. Reducing waste and continuing to make use of resources.

Making both part of the systems through which society operates. Resources do not lose their potential to take on a new role the moment their use ends. They are collected appropriately, recycled using methods suited to their condition, and used again within society. By building these connections, the value of resources is carried forward into successive roles.

There are diverse pathways to circularity within society. Reuse is one pathway. Fiber-to-fiber recycling is another. Others turn resources into new materials and products. By choosing methods appropriate to each resource and considering quality, safety, and environmental impacts, we can broaden the possibilities for their use.

Finding new roles even for resources that have previously been difficult to use. This requires collaboration among a range of technologies and participants: the people who send resources for collection; the businesses that collect and recycle them; the manufacturers that turn materials into products; and the businesses and people who use those products. As these roles are connected and the infrastructure supporting their activities is established, circularity develops into a system that can be sustained.

Recognizing textiles present in cities as resources for society. Connecting those resources to urban life and business activities. Choosing suitable circular pathways for resources and putting them into practice with a range of participants. Then establishing circularity as a normal part of society. The endeavor that began with a single board leads toward this vision of society.

Through its products and technologies, PANECO® will continue to put this vision into practice. Resource circularity becoming part of everyday life rather than a special initiative. Resources that have completed one role being connected to their next.

A society in which resources continue to serve new purposes.

This is the vision toward which the PANECO® philosophy leads, and the Zero Waste that PANECO® seeks.

Epilogue

From Philosophy to Practice

PANECO® began by making a single board. Bringing textiles that had completed their use back into society as a new material. Through this work, its ambition grew beyond that single board: to make textile circularity a normal part of how society operates.

This is how PANECO® seeks to put its philosophy into practice in society.

Realizing it requires collaboration among diverse technologies and participants: businesses; public authorities; educational and research institutions; collection and recycling businesses; manufacturers; and the people who use products and connect resources to their next circular pathway. By bringing their knowledge and technologies together and fulfilling their respective roles, they can help textile circularity take root in society.

PANECO® will continue this practical work as one of those participants. Talking about a philosophy alone does not change society. Making and using products, addressing challenges, and carrying what is learned into the next endeavor. Through these efforts, a philosophy takes shape within society. The knowledge and experience gained through practice are passed from person to person, building the capacity to sustain circularity in the future.

Turning an endeavor that began with a single board into a system for society. Toward a society in which resources continue to serve new purposes, that endeavor will continue.

From philosophy to practice.