What is Kevlar®?
Kevlar® is a high-strength, heat resistant synthetic fiber that is used in a wide range of personal protective equipment like gloves and sleeves. Similar to other engineered fibers like Dyneema®, Nomex® and Technora®, the durability and lightweight construction of Kevlar make it a favorite among manufacturing plants. Used in various forms, the most common manufacturing applications for Kevlar® are within cut resistant gloves and sleeves.
Kevlar® sleeves are generally yellow or black, offer a thumb hole for greater protection and are widely used in the automotive industry for various manufacturing and assembly applications. Kevlar® gloves on the other hand, have a wider array of styles and types.
- Kevlar® gloves with coating on palm
- Wide range of applications, great dexterity, easy to wash.
- Knitted Kevlar® gloves without any coating
- Most commonly used in metal stamping and automotive industry, easy to wash, good dexterity.
- Gloves with Kevlar® lining
- Most commonly used in construction and oil & gas industry, good dexterity, easy to wash.
What are my Recycling Options?
With the average cost of a pair of Kevlar sleeves at $8 and Kevlar gloves at $6, a Kevlar PPE program can get very pricey very quickly. Safety Managers are responsible for ensuring they have the right PPE to keep employees safe. But Purchasing Managers are responsible for keeping costs low and Environmental Managers (EHS) are responsible for minimizing waste and aiming for sustainable recycling practices whenever possible. So how do you keep all safety, purchasing and environmental in lockstep when it comes to Kevlar PPE? Is there even an efficient route to recycle PPE like Kevlar?
Option 1) Landfill
Landfill offers disposal of Kevlar® items at a low rate, but does not offer any recycling benefit. The average pair of gloves takes over 30 years to decompose in a landfill. Items sent to the landfill must be included on your waste manifest.
2) Incineration
The most costly option for Kevlar® disposal does keep items out of the landfill. This option includes burning PPE and in some cases, that energy from incinerating the PPE item can be captured and reused for electricity. But industry professions tend to refer to incineration as “waste-of energy” because it can actually burn up more energy than it produces. At an industry average of $150 per drum, the fees associated with this non-sustainable option make it unattractive to many manufacturing plants.
3) Laundering
The most sustainable and low cost option to recycle Kevlar® PPE is laundering. Not only does Kelvar glove & sleeve laundering offer massive cost savings (average of 60%+), it is the most sustainable recycling option because you reuse the item instead of disposing of the Kevlar® PPE. Make sure your commercial PPE laundering company provides a Sustainability Report to indicate the environmental benefit (for zero-to-landfill goals and ISO 14001 certification) and a Processing Report to indicate capture rate at your plant.
What Does Kevlar’s® Manufacturer Say?
DuPont (manufacturer of Kevlar®) even did an internal study to find the impact of laundering Kevlar gloves. Major takeaways include:
- Laundering and dry cleaning have no significant impact on the cut resistance of gloves made of 100% Kevlar® , even after ten consecutive cleaning cycles.
- Cut resistance of 100% Kevlar® gloves actually increased throughout 10 laundering cycles, which would offer employees more protection.
- On average, the typical glove shrinkage observed is 3% or less
Yes, you can recycle Kevlar® gloves and Kevlar® sleeves and the most economical and sustainable option is laundering and reuse of your Kevlar® PPE. Click the button to start your cost savings journey with Closed Loop Recycling!