Synthelast, located in the industrial area of the pro vince of Alicante, in Spain, has been operating since 1973 in the plastic materials sector, designing, developing and optimizing polymers and elastomers for use in processing in all industrial sectors and more specifically, in the footwear industry sector.
The company is well aware of its responsi bility in terms of protecting our environment, so it develops a number of alternatives, with sustainable products that contribute to remedy the current problem posed by climate change. It promotes the use of recycled materials to lengthen the life cycle of products, and offers a number of choices in composed lines, like Thermoplastic Rubber (TR), flexible PVC and Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU), formulated with various percentage components of recycle materials. In order to add value to this recyclin process, in addition to the ReadyforEcodesigned seal for sustainable materials, granted by INESCOP, the footwear technologies institute, Synthelast has been certified as with the Global Recycled Standard Seal (GRS). It is the first Spanish company in the thermoplastic composite footwear sector to be granted this certificate.
The GRS seal has been conceived to meet the needs of companies seeking to verify the recycled content of products (end or intermediate), and to verify social, environmental, and chemical practices in their production processes. GRS seeks to define requirements that will guarantee accurate content and labor standards stating environmental and chemical impact is minimized.
Company sources tell us that “by attaining these goals, environmental impact associated to the process of manufacturing soles is reduced, while also positioning Synthelast as more competitive in its sector. We know that recycled and certified materials will help our clients open markets and even grow exportations”.
Value Rubber Project
Synthelast is also one of the participating companies in the European Value Rubber project, by means of a consortium including various organisms from Spain, Belgium, and France. All partners in this project have wor ked jointly for over two years, to successfully develop DevulCore, an innovative technology recycling rubber from various industry sectors, like footwear or automotive, with a prototype currently at facilities in Elche.
The innovative project recovers rubber from old soles and car tyres, and is a real cir cular economy project with great potential in the footwear industry, as in any other sector using rubber or rubber-derived materials. The technology results in recycled material par tially or totally replacing virgin rubber, which may be used for manufacturing various pro ducts, such as footwear soles.
