BASF, the world’s leading chemical company along with other members of industry and science has been working on the project ‘Sport Infinity’ aimed at identifying and developing recyclable, partly waste-based, textile fibre reinforced composites.

The research program focuses on football sporting shoes. A used football shoe could be collected and shredded into tiny pieces, of which every gram is reprocessed. Combined with virgin material and reinforced with selected fibre from similar or alternative waste sources, a new shoe can be manufactured.

“We are delighted to join nine highly ranked partners in this project. We are focusing on special new polymers with a broad mechanical property range. The goal is to create a recyclable product that can be fine-tuned to a variety of applications and related processes. Developing new and disruptive cradle-to-cradle sporting good concepts together with partners along the entire value chain is a perfect fit for us,” said Juergen Weiser, director technology, performance materials, BASF.

Polymers, either from industrial or sportswear waste sources, will be reengineered to the key manufacturing processes for Sport Infinity. These processes utilise almost every gram of material and do not produce waste. Moreover, they enable consumers to customise their football shoes in shape, colour, and design. (NA)