Liu Yuanyuan, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Melephant Sustainable Technology, shares her views on advancing the sustainable development of global dyeing and finishing industry.

Below is the edited transcript:

Hello, everyone. I am Liu Yuanyuan, founder of Melephant Sustainable Technology. I would like to thank Wealth and Society for giving me this opportunity to share with you our work in developing sustainable colours.

Melephant Sustainable Technology is a green enterprise upholding the concept of sustainability. We focus on producing colours with green technology. Based on scientific research and development, we hope to vitalise natural colours. We are the carriers of natural colours and nature is our only palette.

I would like to start with our original aspiration. 2014 was a special year for us, as China launched the world's strictest execution standards for baby apparel. Another big event in the same year in my personal space was the birth of my son. We have been in the textile industry for the past twenty-one years and we have a deep understanding of the challenges that the textile industry faces. China's textile industry accounts for 70% of the global market share, while dyeing and finishing are the most polluting processes in the textile industry. We believe that the current business model is unsustainable. After we had our kids, we have been on a mission to provide them with safer products and a better environment. We intend to do everything in our capacity to ensure good health, adhere to the highest safety standards, reduce carbon emissions and become more sustainable. After seven years of hard work, we finally succeeded in developing the world's first bio-based dyes that do not fade, emit zero pollutants and zero carbon emissions. We use the synthesised natural active groups to prevent natural dyes from fading their original colours. Our technology achieves a color change rating of 4-5.

Our vision is to provide humankind with a rich palette of sustainable colours. Right now, we are committed to solving the environmental pollution caused by dyeing and finishing. In the future, we will bring various bio-based pigments for various applications. We have established a raw material-based technology library, so we can easily enter other colour-based industries. On the left, you can see the colour-based industries we have already entered and on the right are the industries we plan to enter in the future.

By insisting on innovative environment-friendly research and development, we have achieved remarkable progress in both the textile and the beauty industries. After we achieved excellent results in the innovation competition held by Kering and L'Oreal, two major French industry giants, we entered into a partnership with them. We hope that through partnerships with these influential giants, people can understand that there are better choices for colour-based products. While meeting the health criteria and the visual needs, colours produced sustainably can better protect our environment.

Our raw material comes from farm waste, making it carbon neutral. Zero liquid is discharged in the production process. The solid waste is recycled into feed for earthworms and their droppings can be stored. We have achieved a closed-loop cycle in the production process, utilised natural resources sustainably and reduced the use of nearly 3000 chemical substances. The agricultural and forest waste per tonne generated more than 3,000 kilograms of dyes at the same time achieved an equivalent reduction of 0.309 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

This year, we have also made a breakthrough in the development of cyan, magenta, yellow and key black (CMYK). This shows that we have a complete dyeing system that can meet the needs of all the colours. At the same time, we have a complete set of dyeing technology that can be applied to 56% of fabrics, including cotton, linen, silk, cashmere, wool, vegetable-tanned leather, nylon, chemical fibre etc. Our dyes have obtained an eco-passport by OEKO-TEX and a certification issued by SGS, meeting the needs of ecological textiles and baby products.

We have three key impacts on the textile industry. The first impact is in the form of the waste conversion rate. In the process of dyes being produced; printing and dying, liquid waste and solid waste generated will be 100% converted. The second impact is on the dye products’ replacement rate. In terms of functionality, it can replace most dyes in the market except disperse dye products. The third impact, as compared to the conventional dyeing and finishing processes, the electricity and water consumption can be saved by more than 60% on average.

We have created a dual cycle of textile dyeing, finishing process and natural resources in the supply chain for the fashion industry. Let's take a 250g garment as an example. The benefit of using our bio-based dyes is that it is environment-friendly. It reduces air pollution and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It also does not harm the health of workers. In terms of usage of water, the production of one piece of clothing reduces the amount of wastewater generated equivalent to 125 bottles of water. Moreover, the annual water reduction can meet the needs of clean water for urban residents in Shanghai for nearly six years. The solid waste and sludge generated in the process of dyeing and finishing is reduced by 1.25 kg per garment, which is equivalent to reducing the amount of garbage per person per day in Shanghai. An annual reduction of 0.143 billion tonnes is equivalent to the weight of 406 Jin Mao Towers in Shanghai. In terms of carbon emission, our bio-based dyes reduce carbon emissions by 70 grams per garment instead. The annual reduction of 10.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions by 860,000 cars annually or 10.5 million mu of forest carbon sinks per year which accounts for 8% of China's 133 million mu of forest carbon sink in 2019.

All the above examples are closely related to our daily lives. We are addressing environmental issues that matter to us. We will make efforts to provide our children with the safest materials and clean and green earth. We, as a mission-motivated team, are dedicated to re-decorating the world with sustainable colours. That is all that I want to share with you all. Thanks for listening. Thanks again to The Asian Banker.