How Recycled Nylon is Made: A Guide to the Manufacturing Process

What is Recycled Nylon?

Recycled nylon is made from old things. It helps our world. We make new things from old things. This is good!

Recycled nylon comes from:

• Old fishing nets
• Old clothes
• Carpet scraps
• Plastic bottles
• Factory leftovers

Why Recycled Nylon Matters

Recycled nylon helps our Earth. It uses less energy. It makes less trash. It saves fish and animals in the sea.

The recycled nylon market is growing fast! It was worth $0.5 billion in 2024. It will grow to $1.04 billion by 2033.

How We Make Recycled Nylon: Step by Step

Step 1: Collecting the Old Nylon

First, we need to find old nylon. People pick up:

• Fishing nets from the ocean
• Old carpets from homes
• Scraps from factories

Did you know? About 80% of recycled nylon comes from things people used before.

Step 2: Cleaning and Sorting

Next, we must clean all the old nylon. We:

• Wash off dirt
• Take out metal parts
• Sort by color and type

Step 3: Cutting into Small Pieces

The clean nylon gets cut into tiny bits. This makes it ready for the next step.

Step 4: Breaking Down with Hydrolysis

This is the big step! We use a process called hydrolysis. It uses:

• Hot water
• Special chemicals like sulfuric acid
• Sodium hydroxide

These break the nylon down to its tiny building blocks.

Step 5: Making New Nylon

Now we can make new nylon! The tiny building blocks join back together to make fresh nylon that's just as good as new.

You can see examples of recycled nylon granules that come from this process.

Recycled Nylon By the Numbers

Success Stories: Who Uses Recycled Nylon?

Many big companies now use recycled nylon:

1. ECONYL® makes swimsuits and sports clothes from 100% recycled nylon.

2. Toray makes jackets called "Torrent shell jackets" with 100% recycled nylon outside.

3. Patagonia uses recycled nylon in many of their outdoor clothes.

You can find many products made with recycled nylon 6 granules in stores today.

Types of Recycled Nylon

There are two main kinds:

1. Post-Consumer Recycled Nylon

This comes from things people used and threw away:

• Old clothes
• Fishing nets
• Carpets

2. Post-Industrial Recycled Nylon

This comes from factories:

• Scraps left over from making things
• Test samples
• Unused materials

Many products use recycled nylon 6 pellets from both sources.

Benefits of Recycled Nylon

Recycled nylon is good for many reasons:

• Saves energy: Uses 60% less energy than making new nylon
• Reduces trash: Keeps plastic out of oceans and dumps
• Helps fish: Saves sea animals from old fishing nets
• Cuts pollution: Makes 40-60% less CO₂
• Works great: Is just as strong as new nylon

Challenges with Recycled Nylon

Making recycled nylon can be hard:

• Finding enough old nylon to recycle
• Cleaning very dirty materials
• Separating mixed fabrics
• Making the process cost less

The Future of Recycled Nylon

The recycled nylon business is growing fast! More companies want to use it.

New ideas are coming too:

• Bio-based nylon made from plants
• Better ways to collect old nylon
• New machines to sort mixed fabrics

One cool example is Ecodear N510 by Toray. It's 100% made from plant sugars!

How You Can Help

You can help make more recycled nylon:

1. Buy clothes made with recycled nylon
2. Recycle your old nylon items
3. Pick up trash at beaches
4. Tell friends about recycled nylon
5. Ask stores to sell more recycled nylon products

Recycled Nylon vs. New Nylon

Wrap-Up

Recycled nylon helps our Earth. It takes old trash and makes new things. It saves energy and cuts pollution.

The recycled nylon market is growing fast. More companies use it every day. You can help by buying recycled nylon products.

Next time you shop, look for tags that say "made with recycled nylon." You'll help make our world better!