pile of different coloured sailing rope and yarn

UK rope manufacturer and premium yachting rope brand, Marlow Ropes, has teamed up with maritime textiles recycling startup Sustainable Sailing in a new partnership that aims to make actionable changes towards the recycling of materials used in the manufacture of high-performance ropes across all its market divisions.

Sustainable Sailing is an award-winning startup company working with sail and equipment manufacturers across the marine sector. The startup won the IET Excellence and Innovation Award as Start-Up of the Year 2023, and going on to work with sail and equipment manufacturers in the maritime industry.

This partnership sees Marlow Ropes using Sustainable Sailing as a recycling partner for its post-production bio-based Dyneema and HMPE PU-coated waste rope and yarn. This uses the unique Deecom steam process to break down the yarn material and coatings, before returning them back to their polymer state for re-use and re-manufacture.

“We are delighted to have found a textile recycling partner for post-production PU-coated bio-based Dyneema and HMPE yarn and rope which brings us a step forward in the development of a circular economy for all bio-based Dyneema and HMPE constructed products. Historically it has been difficult to recycle the PU-coated rope and yarn created during the production process.

“The technical requirements that sailors and race teams require from a high-performance dinghy or yachting rope in today’s world demands complex cover blends, heating and coating processes which have been difficult to strip out for recycling. Working with Sustainable Sailing is a key milestone for us – we now know the recycling technology is available and hope to increase capacity in time to expand and include end of life ropes.”

Marlow says the team looks forward to this new chapter with Sustainable Sailing and in sharing future outcomes with the marine industry and end users to make rope recycling easier and more accessible for all.  

This furthers the company’s ongoing commitment to sustainable manufacturing by working with industry partners such as Avient Dyneema CirculariTeam and follows its recent achievement in gaining ISO14001 certification.

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