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ButOn Runningis working to reverse this trend.
The brand recently developed the first shoe made from carbon emissionsbasically turning industrial pollution into foam for running shoes.
How does it work?
The first step is capturing industrial carbon emissions that would normally go out into the atmosphere.
In this case, the industrial facility is a steel mill in China.
The carbon gets fermented and produces liquid ethanol.
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Next, the company Technip Energies dehydrates the ethanol so that it becomes ethylene gas.
Then Borealis, a circular and renewable plastic solutions company, polymerizes that ethylene to make EVA pellets.
The result is a high-performance material On calls CleanCloud.
This development helps On move away from fossil fuels in its materials.
But it may also signal new possibilities for transforming carbon pollution into usable materials.
Our mission is to make high-performance products with the lowest possible footprint.
Five years ago, this was barely a dream, Heitz says.
We realized we needed to build a new supply chain.
This is quite a big undertaking and long-term investment.
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The shoe is called theCloudprime.
The potential impact
Some apparel already contains similar technology.
That might be a signal that consumers have an appetite for these types of products.
Burton notes that other companies in the carbon transformation space are doing related work.
Theres so much more out there in terms of recycling carbon, she says.
But apparel and footwear are kind of forgotten sectors.
The apparel sector has a bigger carbon footprint than the aviation sector, Burton says.
So will buying a pair of running shoes made from recycled carbon emissions actually do much for the environment?
It depends on whether this process uses less energy than the processes already being used to make EVA.
About the Cloudprime technology overall, Charpail says, The concept is great.
Everyone uses shoes, so therefore, you are impacting also our behavior, she says.
If we want a better future, says Heitz, we have to be willing to build it.
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