UKL Enterprise Co., Ltd. and Tuchen Textile Co., Ltd. are collaborating with the Pineapple Leaf Fiber Production and Marketing Alliance to recycle waste pineapple leaves and remanufacture them into fibers for textiles, thereby increasing rural value and creating job opportunities.
Taiwan produces 480,000 metric tons of pineapples every year, and also produces more than 700,000 metric tons of pineapple leaves. However, these leaves are treated as agricultural byproducts by farmers. UKL Enterprise Co., Ltd. and Tuchen Textile Co., Ltd. collaborated with the Pineapple Leaf Fiber Production and Marketing Alliance to establish the first fully localized trial production line, and developed textile products using pineapple leaf fibers (PALF) made from pineapple leaves, thereby also achieving the objective of recycling agricultural byproducts.
Cross-industry Collaborations to Optimize Pineapple Leaf Fiber Technology
The fiber extraction rate and quality were improved thanks to design enhancements in Green 1 Specialized Organic ANANA Farm’s fiber extraction machinery. With Tuchen Textile Co., Ltd.’s technology and Yarn Sky Textile Technology Co., Ltd.’s improvements to the circular knitting machine’s processes, high-quality pineapple yarn was created. The yarn is made up of natural fibers, and though it is not a 100% mono-material design, it remains an environmentally friendly natural fiber for clothing design. Aside from the textiles themselves, the biodegradable materials were also chosen for the packaging.
Waste Materials Used in High-Value Applications
The waste materials produced by the pineapple leaf fiber extraction process can be used to improve the decomposition efficiency of compost, which means it has fertilizer applications in agriculture. Furthermore, the companies also used the waste materials create environmentally-friendly PU leather, serving as a substitute for leather.
Benefits
- The economic status of pineapple farmers can be improved by recycling and reusing agricultural waste.
- Pineapple farmers can continue to generate income by processing pineapple leaves even after the harvesting season.
- Creation of natural, low-carbon, recycled fibers that can be mass-produced in Taiwan.