Hydrogen Utopia International PLC (HUI), an LSE-listed company specialising in turning non-recyclable mixed waste plastic into hydrogen and other carbon-free fuels, announces it is entering into a strategic partnership with Ethical Fashion Group (EFG), co-founded by British fashion industry veteran Harold Tillman CBE, to provide a ground-breaking Fashion Pollution Solution to clothing manufacturers and suppliers.
The partnership will allow clothing manufacturers, suppliers and retailers to address the devastating environmental impact of products made partly or wholly from non-recyclable plastics including polyester and polyamides.
The Ethical Fashion Group matches 60,000 fashion businesses in 140 countries with sustainable suppliers around the world. It joins Electron Thermal Processing and the leading global industrial gases and engineering company Linde plc as strategic partners of Hydrogen Utopia International.
The clothing industry is the biggest pollutant in the world after the oil and gas sector, producing an estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste every day. The majority of clothing is now made using refinery-derived products including polyester, polyamides or a combination of the two.
Aleksandra Binkowska, founder and chief executive of Hydrogen Utopia International, said:
“Consumers are dressing themselves in plastic, often without knowing it, by buying over one trillion items of clothing a year that are destined to end up in incinerators or landfill sites. Our Fashion Pollution Solution will give manufacturers access for the first time to technology that turns these items into road-fuel quality hydrogen fuel that will power the next generation of carbon-free vehicles”.
Harold Tillman CBE is one of the most instantly-recognisable and experienced figures in the British fashion world. He is a former head of iconic British fashion brands Jaeger and Aquascutum and the only person to have served two consecutive terms as Chairman of the British Fashion Council. He was appointed CBE in 2010 for his services to the fashion industry.
Harold Tillman CBE said:
“The technology developed by Hydrogen Utopia means that, for the first time ever, the fashion industry can be part of the solution to the epidemic of plastic pollution facing the planet, rather than part of the problem. After a lifetime in the fashion industry, I am passionate about the urgent need for clothing manufacturers, suppliers and retailers to address the environmental damage they cause, and to embrace ethical and sustainable production. The Ethical Fashion Group helps them do this and this strategic partnership with HUI has the potential to transform the global clothing industry by tackling our addiction to plastic products.”
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About Hydrogen Utopia International PLC
HUI aims to become one of the leading new European companies specialising in turning non-recyclable mixed waste plastic into carbon-free fuels, new materials or distributed renewable heat.
A HUI facility uses non-recyclable mixed waste plastic as feedstock and turns it into syngas from which new products and energy can be produced. HUI anticipates that its revenues will be derived from a variety of sources, dependent upon location and configuration of the HUI facilities, including the sale of syngas, hydrogen and other gases, electricity and heat sales, and the payment to it of fees for a given quantity of non-recyclable mixed waste plastic received at a HUI facility.
HUI will target areas where there is significant private sector interest or potential, financial backing is accessible and or where substantial EU and/or government funded sources of grants and loans are or may be available. The global increase in fossil fuel-based energy prices reinforces the need for alternative, price competitive energy sources, which HUI’s business model can provide.
The pressing need to deal with growing amounts of waste plastic combined with a real momentum in the use of hydrogen from renewable sources may pave the way for a rapid deployment of and investment in HUI facilities.
