Dr. Michael Duetsch & Man Woo Lee
Vice President & CEO respectively UPM Biochemicals and Dongsung Chemical
Sustainable, renewable carbon circular economy is the focus
Global footwear and textile brands are increasingly embracing the concept of circularity in their supply chains. However, achieving circularity is difficult because most textiles today are made from composite materials, which makes them hard to recycle. Last year, UPM Biochemicals and Dongsung Chemical formed a strategic partnership to develop eco-friendly products using UPM’s Bio-Mono Ethylene Glycol (bMEG). Unlike other biomass raw materials, UPM Bio-MEG is wood-based, sustainably sourced, and does not compete with food production. It can also reduce CO2 emissions by over 70 per cent compared to existing petroleum-based MEG, so it is a raw material that can realise carbon neutrality and deliver on the sustainability goals of Dongsung’s customers. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, Dr. Michael Duetsch, Vice President UPM Biochemicals and Man Woo Lee, CEO of Dongsung Chemical, discuss how they are both committed to establishing a sustainable, renewable textile industry and how this partnership can contribute to a fully functioning circular economy.
What can you tell us about your career?
Dr. Michael Duetsch (MD): I joined UPM in 2011 because there was a real ambition to create a sizeable new business. For more than a decade, UPM has been developing and executing a strategy to establish the world’s first industrial scale biorefinery to produce renewable chemicals – demonstrating its commitment to realising a future beyond fossils.
Man Woo Lee (MWL): I joined Dongsung Chemical as CEO three years ago and have over 35 years’ experience in the chemical industry. Dongsung is a company based on petro-based materials but in recent years, has started to transform into an eco-friendly, high-performance material specialist. The products we currently produce, amongst others, include polyurethane (PU), specialty foams, composites and fine chemical products.
Why is Dongsung making a major push to reduce its carbon footprint?
MWL: The global challenges that the chemical industry is faced with include resource conservation, environmental protection, improving quality of life and climate change. Over the years, I have personally come to believe that “discomfort implies the need for chemistry” – essentially, it is vital that the chemical industry steps up when things become difficult, while at the same time ensuring that it does not negatively impact the environment.
As for footwear, when the product’s life span is over, it retains over 95 per cent of its original material. It is possible to recycle this material, but that has a certain limitation. As a company that has been involved in the footwear industry for a long time, we have a responsibility for the carbon footprint of footwear products.
Why did you choose to partner with UPM? What excites you most about the partnership with UPM?
MWL: Over the past 3 years, we have been actively researching market and technology trends in the biochemical and biopolymer industry. What particularly attracted us to UPM was that they use wood-based materials, as differentiated to other biomass sources that rely on food resources. In addition, UPM’s Bio-MEG has the advantage of reducing CO2 emissions by over 70 per cent compared to traditional petro-based MEG.
We believe that UPM’s Bio-MEG is the optimal solution to replace traditional petro-based MEG materials as eco-friendly alternatives for the PU used in footwear. Not only that, but because our business is diverse, we can also expand the use of UPM’s Bio-MEG to various other applications and industries in the future. We look forward to a continued strong partnership with UPM where both companies can develop a win-win strategy.
What does Dongsung Chemical want to achieve through partnership with UPM?
MWL: We are collaborating with UPM to develop various kinds of Bio-MEG business models to apply to different kinds of industrial applications. For example, automotive, electric & electronic, coating, textiles and even the pharmaceutical and medical industries where we can provide our customers with more sustainable solutions.
What does the Dongsung collaboration mean to UPM? And what benefits do UPM bring to Dongsung?
MD: For UPM, it is important to partner with customers who really have the desire and the will to change the industry and Dongsung Chemical is that kind of a company. Therefore, this partnership is really strategic for us. Partnerships are successful if there is a win-win situation for all the partners. We will win because we have a partner who is innovative, who brings our products into the market and Dongsung is a winner because they get access to sustainable raw materials – and that is the combination which will drive the footwear industry to become more sustainable, more environmentally sound.
Why do you think Dongsung has chosen UPM as a partner?
MD: UPM has a track record of being sustainable. I think this track record, this reliability, which we have proven in other markets, also motivates potential partners to team up with us. They can rely on us and know that we ‘walk the talk’.
What are the major trends in the footwear market right now? Do you see a trend towards renewable materials in the footwear market?
MWL: Renewable, recycling, eco-friendly and even bio-degradable are buzzwords widely used in the footwear industry. Nowadays, younger generations consider several different factors when making a purchase. These include the functionality and design of the product, the brand, the environmental impact of the production process, and the lifecycle of the materials. Among these considerations, “eco-friendly” is a new mega-trend that we are increasingly seeing.
Why is it important that global brands, for example, clothing and shoe companies, transform their products to become more sustainable?
MD: We have to move quickly to a new way of doing business to preserve our climate and the earth on which we are living. Big companies are demanding sustainable solutions and if you look at the value chain from raw materials to products, we will fulfil a key step. We take the sustainable raw material – wood in our case – and convert it to chemicals. This process is essential to transform the economy into something new, which we call the sustainable bioeconomy. The textile and packaging industries, for example, have a really big impact on sustainability as the majority of materials used are fossil-based. Clearly, we need to find a sustainable solution, and we want to make our contribution in finding such solution and thus create more sustainable industries.
What options do global brands have in the current market in their quest for sustainable solutions?
MD: Global brands are embracing a circular economy, recognising the importance of reusing and recycling materials. In the future beyond fossils, there will be only three sources of carbon – biomass, recycled materials and CO2. By establishing a way to convert biomass into these materials, we are complementing a circular economy.
What role do suppliers in the clothing and shoe industry value chain play in driving this transformation?
MD: Achieving circularity in textiles is not that easy because they are usually made from composite materials, which makes recycling difficult. At UPM, we help suppliers to become more sustainable by providing them with sustainable raw materials.
How important is it that customers and consumers understand how the forest feedstock is sourced and why?
MD: Woody biomass, which comes from sustainably managed forests, is the licence to operate for UPM as a whole, but especially for biochemicals. We can prove that the wood we are sourcing is not only legally sourced, but also sustainably sourced, and this is the starting point of the long value chain from biomass to the end consumer.
Do you think that consumers of products like sport shoes are looking for renewable products?
MD: We have to fight against climate change, and unfortunately, this will not change over the next few years or decades. Therefore, the kinds of products that will help to protect the climate have a bright future.
The focus of sustainable solutions is on the circular economy. This will be complemented by sustainable raw materials, virgin raw materials, which are sustainably sourced. Both together will form the sustainable, renewable carbon circular economy which is the focus of our end consumers, the brand owners who serve these consumers and the raw material suppliers, like UPM.
Interviewer: Shilpi Panjabi
Published on: 16/05/2023
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
